JESUS  AS  HE  WAS  AND  IS 


SAMUEL    G.  CRAIG    * 


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t&*  PRINCETON,  N.  J.  *$ 


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JESUS  AS  HE  WAS  AND  IS 
SAMUEL      G.      CRAIG 


JESUS  AS  HE  WAS  AND  IS 

A  MODERN   ATTEMPT  TO  SET   FORTH  THE 
ABIDING    SIGNIFICANCE    OF    JESUS    CHRIST 


SAMUEL  G.  CRAIG,  A.M.,  B.D. 


MINISTER  OF  THE  NORTH  PRESBYTERIAN 
CHURCH  OF  PITTSBURGH 


WITH  AN  INTRODUCTION  BY 
PROF.  BENJAMIN  B.  WARFIELD,  D.D.,  LL.D. 

OF  PRINCETON  THEOLOGICAL  SEMINARY 


HODDER  &  STOUGHTON 

NEW  YORK 

GEORGE  H.  DORAN  COMPANY 


Copyright,  1914,  bt 
GEORGE  H.  DORAN  COMPANY 


TO 

c.  n.  c. 


PREFACE 

IT  is  clear  to  the  author  of  this  book — and 
widely  admitted  to-day  even  by  the  most 
radical  critics — that  the  writers  of  the 
New  Testament  are  essentially  one  in  their  con- 
ception of  Jesus.  Moreover,  he  is  firmly  con- 
vinced that  the  Jesus  of  the  New  Testament  is 
the  primitive  Jesus — as  is  evidenced  by  this 
book  as  a  whole,  particularly  the  second  chap- 
ter. Those  who  are  interested  in  the  critical 
questions  that  are  raised  by  those  who  attempt 
to  get  back  of  the  Jesus  of  the  New  Testa- 
ment to  a  more  primitive  Jesus  are  referred  to 
such  books  as  "Jesus  and  the  Gospel,"  by 
James  Denny,  and  "The  Lord  of  Glory,' '  by 
B.  B.  Warfield. 

The  title  of  this  book,  therefore,  indicates 
that  it  is  written  from  the  standpoint  of  those 
who  believe  (1)  that  the  Jesus  of  the  New  Tes- 
tament actually  existed,  (2)  that  He  exists  to- 
day as  One  in  whom  the  virtues  of  His  earthly 
life  are  perpetuated.  The  final  chapter  makes 
clear,  moreover,  that  its  author  is  in  harmony 
with  those  who  believe  that  the  great  event  that 

vii 


viii  Jesus  as  He  Was  and  Is 

awaits  us  in  the  future  is  the  personal  return  of 
this  same  Lord  Jesus. 

In  characterizing  this  as  a  modern  attempt 
to  set  forth  the  abiding  significance  of  Jesus 
Christ,  the  author  does  not  mean  to  profess  any 
special  sympathy  with  what  is  called  Modern- 
ism in  so  far  as  it  places  a  minimizing  inter- 
pretation on  the  person  and  work  of  Jesus. 
What  he  means  is  that  it  is  not  written  without 
some  knowledge  of  modern  tendencies  and  that 
he  does  not  hesitate  to  call  himself  a  modern 
because  in  his  interpretation  of  Jesus  and  His 
work  he  is  in  essential  harmony  with  the 
Church  of  all  ages,  including  the  Church  as  it 
exists  to-day  in  all  its  great  branches.  Rather 
this  latter  fact  strengthens  him  in  his  convic- 
tion that  he  is  living  in  the  main  current  of  ex- 
istence since  he  is  persuaded  that  in  Jesus  alone 
is  to  be  found  the  dynamic  through  which  the 
best  aspirations  of  our  age  may  be  realized  and 
hence  that  those  who  march  in  the  vanguard  of 
progress  are  ever  those  who  march  under  the 
command  of  Jesus  Christ.  No  doubt  there  have 
been  and  are  reactionaries,  even  obscurantists, 
among  those  who  bow  before  Jesus  as  their 
Lord.  None  the  less  these,  as  a  body,  are  still 
both  the  salt  of  the  earth  and  the  light  of  the 
world.      Despite   all  their   shortcomings   they 


Preface  ix 

bear  in  themselves  the  hope  of  the  world  both 
for  time  and  eternity. 

In  writing  this  book  the  author  has  made 
large  use  of  a  series  of  Sunday  afternoon  ser- 
mon-lectures he  delivered  in  the  North  Pres- 
byterian Church  of  Pittsburgh  during  the  Fall 
and  Winter  of  1913-1914. 

The  author  of  this  book  is  deeply  grateful 
to  Prof.  Warfield — as  he  is  sure  its  readers 
will  be — for  the  introduction  he  has  written. 
Moreover,  among  the  many  to  whom  he  is  in- 
debted for  such  excellencies  as  this  book  may 
possess  there  is  no  one  to  whom  he  is  more 
deeply  indebted  than  to  Prof.  Warfield — first 
as  a  teacher  and  later  as  a  writer. 

The  quotations  from  Scripture  are,  for  the 
most  part,  according  to  the  American  Revised 
Version. 

August,  1914. 


CONTENTS 


Preface vii 

Introduction xiii 

CHAPTER 

I.     Jesus  and  His  Place  in  the  Christian  Re- 
ligion   

II.  Whence  Came  Jesus? 

III.  Why  Jesus  Came 

IV.  Jesus  as  King 
V.  Jesus  as  Our  Example 

VI.  Jesus  as  a  Preacher   . 

VII.  Jesus  as  a  Miracle  Worker 

VIII.  Jesus  as  a  Healer 

IX.  Jesus  as  One  Who  Died 

X.  Jesus  as  the  Regenerator  op  Character 

XI.  Jesus  as  the  Regenerator  op  Society 

XII.  Jesus  as  a  Man  and  as  a  Friend 

XIII.  Jesus  as  Judge 

XIV.  Jesus  and  His  Place  in  the  Cosmos  . 
XV.  Jesus  as  the  Coming  One 


23 

41 

57 

75 

91 

111 

127 

143 

159 

181 

197 

213 

227 

247 

265 


INTRODUCTION 

IT  gives  me  great  pleasure  to  respond  to  Mr. 
Craig's  request  that  I  should  say  a  few 
words  which  may  serve  as  an  introduction 
to  this  book.  The  book  seems  to  me  to  meet 
admirably  a  very  distinct  need.  We  live  very 
busy  lives  nowadays.  And  in  the  hurry  and 
fret  of  these  busy  lives  we  are  sometimes  in 
danger  of  permitting  to  grow  dim  to  us  things 
which  are  too  precious  to  let  slip  from  our 
minds.  In  a  direct  and  telling  way  Mr.  Craig 
calls  some  of  these  back  to  our  memories.  He 
reminds  us  of  who  Jesus  is,  what  He  has  done, 
and  what  He  is  to  us.  It  is  good  to  listen  to 
him  and  through  his  quiet  words  to  hear  the 
voice  of  Jesus  Himself  speaking  to  our  souls. 
We  shall  scarcely  be  able  to  read  the  book 
without  feeling  that  we  have  gained  in  the  clear- 
ness and  firmness  of  our  knowledge  of  our 
Lord. 

Mr.  Craig  calls  his  book,  "Jesus  as  He  Was 
and  Is."  He  means  by  that  to  remind  us  that 
Jesus  is  to-day  all  He  ever  was.  That  there 
is  nothing  He  has  been  to  any  past  genera- 

xiii 


xiv  Jesus  as  He  Was  and  Is 

tion,  back  to  the  first — the  generation  which 
knew  Him  in  the  flesh — that  He  may  not  be,  that 
He  is  not,  to  this  generation — the  generation  in 
which  we  live  and  which  we  may  be  sometimes 
tempted  to  fear  has  begun  to  forget  Him.  That 
there  is  nothing  He  has  ever  been  to  even  the 
greatest  of  His  saints,  that  He  is  not  to  the 
weakest  one  of  us  who  would  fain  believe  him- 
self His.  We  are  inevitably  reminded  of  that 
great  triumphant  shout  which  we  find  imbedded 
in  the  Epistle  to  the  Hebrews — "  Jesus  Christ 
yesterday  and  to-day  the  same, — and  for  ever ! ' ' 
No  better  motto  could  be  found  for  the  book 
and  I  think  I  could  do  nothing  better  in  the 
way  of  an  introduction  to  it  than  simply  to 
write  this  motto  on  its  forefront. 

What  the  author  of  the  Epistle  to  the  He- 
brews was  doing  when  he  put  on  record  for  us 
this  great  declaration,  was  exhorting  his  read- 
ers to  bear  in  mind  those  notable  Christian  men 
who  had  taught  the  gospel  to  them,  and  to  mold 
themselves,  whether  for  living  or  for  dying,  on 
their  shining  example.  As  truly  as  that  great 
cloud  of  witnesses  which  he  had  lately  sum- 
moned from  the  records  of  the  Old  Testament 
to  cheer  them  in  their  struggles,  these  men 
had  been  heroes  of  faith.  He  bids  his  readers 
to  note  with  care  how  they  had  borne  them- 


Introduction  xv 


selves  in  the  troubles  and  trials  which  filled 
their  lives, — up  to  the  very  end.  He  urges  them 
to  imitate  the  faith  which  had  brought  them 
so  triumphantly  through  them  all.  And  then 
to  encourage  them  in  this  high  endeavor,  he 
suddenly  raises  their  eyes  from  the  servants  to 
the  Master,  crying  aloud :  ' '  Jesus  Christ,  yes- 
terday and  to-day  the  same, — and  for  ever!" 
As  much  as  to  say  that  if  they  repeated  the 
faith  of  their  teachers  they  could  not  fail  to 
repeat  also  their  victory.  It  was  to  no  doubt- 
ful experiment  that  He  called  them,  but  to  a 
sure  triumph.  Jesus  Christ  remained  the  same 
through  every  change  and  chance  of  time.  He 
was  as  accessible  to  them  as  He  had  been  to 
their  predecessors,  and  as  ready  and  as  able  to 
sustain  and  to  succor.  They  had  but  to  trust  in 
Him  and  they  could  not  be  put  to  shame. 

The  appeal  is  made,  we  may  say,  to  the  faith- 
fulness of  Christ.  But  something  deeper  than 
faithfulness  is  meant.  We  do  not  speak  of  the 
faithfulness  of  the  rock,  the  house  that  is  built 
upon  which  will  stand,  though  the  floods  come 
and  the  winds  blow  and  beat  upon  it.  Jesus 
Christ  not  only  will  be  faithful  but  cannot  but 
be  faithful.  The  appeal  is  made,  we  may  say 
again,  then,  to  the  unchangeableness  of  Christ. 
But  something  higher  than  unchangeableness  is 


xvi  Jesus  as  He  Was  and  Is 

meant.  It  is  not  merely  to  a  passive  quality  of 
being  that  we  are  pointed,  but  to  an  active 
principle  of  conduct.  Jesus  Christ  is  not  merely 
abstractly  incapable  of  change,  but  unalterably 
constant  in  His  dealings  with  His  people.  Put 
the  two  together,  then,  and  we  may  say  that 
the  appeal  is  made  to  the  immutable  steadfast- 
ness of  Christ.  But  we  still  fall  below  this 
great  declaration.  These  words  are  too  cold 
and  impersonal.  We  must  pour  more  emotion 
into  them,  and  relate  them  more  closely  to 
our  hearts.  Instead  of  "immutable"  we  must 
say  at  least  "unfailing,"  and  for  "steadfast- 
ness ' '  we  must  say  at  least ' '  trustiness. ' '  What 
those  old  Hebrew  Christians  were  assured  was 
that  Jesus  Christ  is  unfailingly  trusty;  and 
there  is  included  in  that  the  implication  not  only 
that  He  will  but  also  that  He  can.  They  might 
safely  trust  Him  as  those  great  men  did  whose 
lives  and  deaths  they  reverently  looked  back 
upon;  for  He  remains  the  same  trusty  Lord 
and  Saviour  now  that  He  was  then.  The  ap- 
peal, in  a  word,  is  to  the  love  of  Christ ;  to  His 
changeless  love;  to  His  almighty  changeless 
love.  We  do  not  get  its  full  force  until  we  em- 
phasize each  of  these  three  ideas  in  turn.  What 
the  writer  was  telling  his  readers  is  that  the 
same  Christ  was  theirs  in  whom  their  revered 


Introduction  xvii 


teachers  had  trusted — the  same  Christ  in  the 
same  almighty,  changeless  love;  and  therefore 
to  trust  in  Him  would  bring  them  to  the  same 
victory,  the  contemplation  of  which  in  their 
teachers  filled  them  with  mingled  awe  and  re- 
joicing. 

This  great  assurance,  now,  does  not  belong  to 
the  Hebrew  Christians  of  two  thousand  years 
ago  alone.  It  comes  to  us  to-day  with  as  direct 
an  application  and  as  clear  an  encouragement 
as  it  brought  to  them.  There  is  nothing  about 
it  which  can  confine  it  to  any  one  time,  or  to 
any  one  state  of  circumstances,  or  to  any  one 
body  of  hearers.  Rather,  it  is  expressly  made 
universal.  It  does  not  say  merely,  Jesus 
Christ  is  yesterday  and  to-day  the  same: 
though,  had  it  said  only  that,  it  still  would  be 
impossible  to  bind  it  to  only  one  yesterday  and 
only  one  to-day.  It  adds  to  this  declaration  the 
further  words,  "and  for  ever."  And  this  ad- 
dition can  mean  nothing  else  than  that  the  as- 
surance given  was  expressly  and  emphatically 
intended  to  be  of  universal  application.  Not 
only  could  the  first  readers  of  the  Epistle  be 
sure  that  they  would  find  Jesus  Christ  all  that 
they  had  seen  their  venerated  teachers  find 
Him.  All,  everywhere,  throughout  all  ages, 
have  but  to  taste  and  see  His  like  preciousness 


xviii  Jesus  as  He  Was  and  Is 

to  them.    For  ''Jesus  Christ  is  yesterday  and 
to-day  the  same — and  for  ever." 

There  is  even  reason  to  suspect  that  the  dec- 
laration was  not  first  framed  for  the  occasion 
on  which  we  find  it  here  used,  and  was  not  first 
made  to  these  Hebrew  Christians,  as  an  incite- 
ment to  them  to  imitate  the  victorious  faith  of 
their  teachers.  The  suddenness  with  which  it 
is  introduced,  the  compact  vividness  of  its  lan- 
guage, its  completeness  in  itself,  the  absence 
from  it  of  all  connectives,  its  exclamatory  form, 
the  stately  grandeur  of  its  manner, — more  like 
a  trumpet  blast  than  an  argument:  all  give  it 
the  appearance  of  one  of  those  crisp,  proverbial 
announcements,  in  which  the  first  Christians 
early  learned  to  crystallize  the  essence  of  their 
faith,  and  by  the  repetition  of  which  they  were 
accustomed  to  exhort  and  encourage  one  an- 
other in  their  temptations  and  trials.  We  meet 
with  these  golden  nuggets  of  compressed  Chris- 
tian confession  in  the  so-called  Pastoral  Epis- 
tles, set  off  to  our  observation  as  ' '  faithful  say- 
ings." "This  is  a  faithful  saying,"  says  Paul 
and  reminds  his  readers  of  one  of  the  maxims 
of  fundamental  Christian  faith,  which  he  thus 
adopts  and  adapts  to  his  momentary  purpose. 
We  meet  with  them  also,  however,  elsewhere, 
scattered  through  the  Epistles  without  any  for- 


Introduction  xix 


mal  intimation  being  given  of  their  origin  in 
the  general  heart  of  the  Christian  community 
or  of  their  proverbial  character.  Surely  we 
meet  with  one  of  them  in  this  stirring  battle- 
cry  of  the  Christian  life:  "Jesus  Christ,  yes- 
terday and  to-day  the  same — and  for  ever!" 
In  point  of  compressed  pregnancy  of  language 
it  rivals  the  Moslem's  cry,  "No  God  but 
God!"  or  the  old  Jewish  "confession,"  "Je- 
hovah our  God,  Jehovah  One,"  while  for  depth 
of  emotional  appeal  it  passes  far  beyond  either : 
"Jesus  Christ,  yesterday  and  to-day  the  same 
— and  for  ever!"  Here  vibrates  a  passionate 
assertion  of  the  unfailing  trustiness  of  Jesus 
Christ,  the  Christian's  support  and  stay,  the 
eternal  refuge  of  His  people. 

If  this  be  at  all  the  case,  then,  in  claiming 
this  great  assurance  for  ourselves,  we  do  not  so 
much  apply  to  our  needs  words  spoken  first  to 
the  Hebrew  Christians  of  two  millenniums  ago 
to  encourage  them  to  increase  of  faith.  The 
writer  of  the  Epistle  rather  applies  to  their 
needs  words  put  together  first  for  us  and  by  us 
— by  the  general  Christian  community,  for  every 
Christian  of  that  and  of  every  time  reminding 
himself  of  the  Eock  on  which  he  builds  the 
house  of  his  life.  And  in  that  case  the  words 
must  be  taken  in  their  most  unlimited  mean- 


xx  Jesus  as  He  Was  and  Is 

ing,  and  come  to  us  to-day,  after  all  these  years, 
as  the  embodiment  of  our  common  Christian 
assurance.  They  remind  us  that  Jesus  Christ 
is  the  strong  Son  of  God  who  has  come  into  the 
world  to  save  sinners,  and  who,  through  all  the 
world's  life,  as  age  passes  on  into  age,  abides 
the  same  strong  Saviour — yea,  forever.  In  the 
midst  of  the  trials  of  life  and  its  perplexities, 
its  temptations  and  its  failures,  its  errors  and 
its  sins,  what  we  want  to  know — what  we  want 
with  all  the  strength  of  our  hearts  to  believe — 
is  that  Jesus  Christ  is  the  same,  yesterday  and 
to-day,  and  forever ;  that  we  can  safely  venture 
on  Him  with  our  all, — whether  for  this  life  or 
for  the  life  to  come.  It  is  this  assurance  that 
this  great  Christian  battle-cry  gives  us. 

And  it  is  because  Mr.  Craig's  book  seems  to 
me  to  tend  to  bring  this  assurance  to  the  men 
and  women  of  to-day  that  I  am  glad  to  com- 
mend it  to  them. 

Benjamin  B.  Wakfield. 

Princeton, 
August,  1914. 


CHAPTER  ONE:  JESUS  AND  HIS 
PLACE  IN  THE  CHRISTIAN 
RELIGION 


And  Jesug  spake  unto  them  saying,  All  authority  hath  been 
given  unto  me  in  heaven  and  on  earth.  Go  ye  therefore,  and 
make  disciples  of  all  nations,  baptizing  them  into  the  name  of 
the  Father  and  the  Son  and  the  Holy  Spirit:  teaching  them 
to  observe  all  things  whatsoever  I  commanded  you:  and  lo,  I 
am  with  you  always,  even  unto  the  end  of  the  world. 

— Matthew  xxviii:  18-20. 


And  they  stoned  Stephen,  calling  upon  the  Lord,  and  say- 
ing, Lord  Jesus,  receive  my  spirit. 

— The  Acts  vii:  59. 


JESUS  AND  HIS  PLACE  IN  THE  CHRISTIAN  RELIGION 

THE  center  of  controversy  to-day  among 
those  who  call  themselves  Christians 
has  to  do  with  the  place  that  Jesus  him- 
self occupies  in  the  religion  that  He  founded. 
More  definitely  expressed,  it  has  to  do  with  the 
question  whether  Jesus  was  simply  a  subject 
of  the  Christian  religion  or  whether  He  is  its 
object. 

If  Jesus  was  simply  a  subject  of  the  Christian 
religion,  His  uniqueness  lies  wholly  in  the  fact 
that  He  was  the  first  Christian,  and  the  place 
He  occupies  in  the  Christian  religion  is  essen- 
tially the  same  as  that  which  Buddha  occupies 
in  Buddhism  or  Confucius  in  Confucianism  or 
even  as  that  which  Martin  Luther  occupies  in 
Lutheranism  or  John  Wesley  in  Methodism. 
If,  however,  Jesus  be  the  object  of  the  Christian 
religion,  it  is  evident  that  He  occupies  an  es- 
sentially different  position,  inasmuch  as  in  this 
case  it  becomes  us  to  look  upon  Him  not  sim- 
ply as  the  first  of  Christians  or  the  best  of  men, 

23 


24  Jesus  as  He  Was  and  Is 

not  simply  as  a  pioneer  in  religion,  not  simply 
as  a  pattern  in  the  things  of  the  spirit,  but 
as  One  upon  whom  we  are  dependent,  as  One 
whom  we  should  worship  and  obey;  and  hence 
that  the  Christian  religion  is  indebted  to  Jesus, 
not  only  as  its  founder  but  as  One  to  whom 
it  owes  its  very  existence  even  at  the  present 
hour. 

It  is  not  a  matter  of  dispute  how  Jesus  has 
been  conceived  by  the  Church  of  all  ages,  in- 
cluding the  Church  as  it  exists  to-day  in  all  its 
great  branches.  In  view  of  the  creeds  of  the 
Church,  both  ancient  and  modern,  and  more 
especially  in  view  of  the  hymns  and  devotional 
writings  of  the  Church,  both  ancient  and  mod- 
ern, none  is  so  bold  as  to  deny  that,  generally 
speaking,  among  those  calling  themselves 
Christians,  Jesus  has  been  and  is  regarded  as 
the  object  of  the  Christian  religion. 

Neither  is  it  a  matter  of  dispute  that  Jesus 
was  so  regarded  by  those  who  wrote  the  New 
Testament,  and  that  wherever  we  open  its  pages 
we  are  confronted  by  a  religious  life  that  is 
grounded  in  and  that  is  determined  by  Jesus 
himself.  We  read  the  life  of  Jesus  as  that  life 
is  portrayed  in  the  Gospels  and  we  are  struck 
with  the  fact  that  He  ever  centers  attention 
upon  Himself  as  the  object  of  love  and  trust 


His  Place  in  the  Christian  Religion       2$ 

and  obedience.  We  find,  indeed,  that  the  per- 
sonal pronoun  plays  a  very  large  part  in  the 
utterances  of  Jesus,  so  large  a  part  that  if  we 
judge  Him  by  ordinary  standards  we  must 
charge  Him  with  intolerable  arrogance  and  con- 
ceit. "All  things  have  been  delivered  unto  me 
of  my  Father :  and  no  one  knoweth  the  Son,  save 
the  Father;  neither  doth  any  know  the  Father, 
save  the  Son  and  he  to  whomsoever  the  Son 
willeth  to  reveal  him.  Come  unto  me  all  ye 
that  labor  and  are  heavy  laden  and  I  will  give 
you  rest ;  take  my  yoke  upon  you  and  learn  of 
me,  for  I  am  meek  and  lowly  in  heart  and  ye 
shall  find  rest  unto  your  souls"  (Matt.  xi:27- 
29) ;  "I  am  the  light  of  the  world;  he  that  fol- 
loweth  me  shall  not  walk  in  darkness  but  shall 
possess  the  light  of  life"  (John  viii :12) ;,  "I 
am  the  door ;  if  by  me  any  man  enter  in  he  shall 
be  saved  and  shall  go  in  and  out  and  find  pas- 
ture" (John  x:9);  "All  authority  hath  been 
given  unto  me  in  heaven  and  on  earth"  (Matt. 
xxviii:18) — these  are  but  samples  of  the  utter- 
ances ascribed  to  Jesus  that  preclude  our  see- 
ing in  Him  simply  a  subject  of  religion.  "We 
read  the  writings  of  Paul,  of  Peter,  of  Luke, 
of  John  and  others  of  the  early  Christians 
whose  writings  have  found  a  place  in  the  New 
Testament,  but  do  not  find  that  they  took  of- 


26  Jesus  as  He  Was  and  Is 

fense  at  such  language  or  that  they  made  any 
attempt  to  weaken  its  significance.  Bather 
everything  points  to  the  fact  that  Jesus  loomed 
so  large  before  them,  that  He  occupied  so  vital 
a  place  in  their  thinking  and  living  as  amply 
to  justify  such  language  on  His  part.  We  find 
that  they  worshiped  Christ  as  God,  that  they 
regarded  themselves  as  engaged  in  His  service 
and  as  bound  by  His  example  and  precepts: 
moreover,  that  their  hope  both  for  this  life  and 
that  which  is  to  come  was  grounded  in  their 
confidence  that  He  was  able  to  save  to  the  utter- 
most those  who  came  unto  God  through  Him. 

It  is  evident,  therefore,  that  if  we  are  to  con- 
ceive of  Jesus  as  He  was  conceived  of  in  the 
early  Christian  community  and  as,  broadly 
speaking,  He  has  been  and  is  conceived  of  by 
all  the  great  branches  of  the  Christian  Church, 
we  must  not  merely  think  of  Him  as  a  subject 
of  the  Christian  religion  but  as  its  object,  as 
that  in  which  it  finds  its  center,  as  that  from 
which  everything  proceeds  and  upon  which 
everything  terminates. 

We  cannot  do  this,  however,  unless  we  see  in 
Jesus  a  divine,  a  supernatural  being — one 
whose  rank  in  the  scale  of  being  places  Him 
alongside  of  God.  For,  of  course,  to  make  one 
who  falls  short  of  God  the  object  of  religion 


His  Place  in  the  Christian  Religion       27 

would  be  to  yield  to  a  creature  that  homage 
and  adoration  that  belongs  only  to  the  Creator. 
There  are  those,  however,  even  among  those 
who  call  themselves  Christians — and  perhaps 
their  number  was  never  larger  than  at  present 
— who  take  offense  at  this  supernaturalism  and 
who  if  they  do  not  seek  to  eliminate  it  alto- 
gether, at  least  seek  to  place  it  as  far  in  the 
background  as  possible.  As  a  result  or  at  least 
largely  as  a  result  of  this,  there  are  an  increas- 
ing number  who  would  have  us  see  in  Jesus 
simply  a  subject  of  the  Christian  religion.  Now, 
of  course,  if  Jesus  be  simply  a  subject  of  the 
Christian  religion,  i.  e.,  simply  the  first  Chris- 
tian, the  first  of  the  series  of  believers  of  the 
particular  kind  we  call  Christian,  there  is  no 
special  reason  why  we  should  emphasize  the 
fact  that  He  was  a  divine,  a  supernatural  being. 
Eather  the  more  we  emphasize  this  fact  the 
more  difficult  will  we  find  it  to  see  in  Jesus  sim- 
ply a  subject  of  religion,  because  if  to  be  a 
Christian  is  simply  to  share  the  religious  life 
of  Jesus,  to  repeat  in  ourselves  that  attitude 
toward  God  and  man  and  the  world  that  was 
exemplified  in  Jesus,  then  the  more  thoroughly 
Jesus  was  one  with  us  in  all  respects  the  better 
fitted  would  He  be  to  be  our  pattern — inasmuch 
as  it  is  evident  to  all  that  if  Jesus  was  God 


28  Jesus  as  He  IF  as  and  Is 

as  well  as  man,  it  is  impossible  that  we  should 
share  all  of  His  experiences.  It  is  not  at  all 
surprising,  therefore,  that  those  who  take  of- 
fense at  the  supernaturalism  of  the  New  Testa- 
ment should  seek  to  commend  to  us  a  Jesus  who 
is  simply  a  subject  of  religion.  In  fact,  the 
logic  of  the  situation  is  such  that  this  is  only 
what  we  might  have  expected. 

Moreover,  in  view  of  the  fact  that  the  logic  of 
the  situation  demands  that  those  who  seek  to 
eliminate  the  supernatural  from  Jesus  should 
preach  a  Jesus  who  is  simply  a  subject  of  re- 
ligion, it  is  not  even  surprising  that  many  of 
these  should  be  found  preaching  an  essentially 
Christless  Christianity,  that  while  still  calling 
themselves  Christians  they  should  be  found 
saying  that  as  far  as  their  religious  lives  are 
concerned  it  is  a  matter  of  relative  unimpor- 
tance, even,  whether  or  no  Jesus  ever  existed. 
For,  of  course,  if  the  significance  of  Jesus  lies 
simply  in  the  fact  that  He  was  the  first  Chris- 
tian and  that  as  such  He  initiated  the  Christian 
movement,  and  hence  that  His  value  lies  wholly 
in  the  spheres  of  teaching  and  example,  it  can 
no  longer  be  maintained  that  Jesus  himself 
is  essential  to  Christianity  as  it  exists  to-day 
any  more  than  it  can  be  maintained  that  Luther 
is  essential  to  Lutheranism  as  it  exists  to-day 


His  Place  in  the  Christian  Religion       29 

or  that  Wesley  is  essential  to  Methodism  as  it 
exists  to-day.  No  doubt  there  are  good  Luth- 
erans who  know  hut  little  about  Martin  Luther, 
just  as  there  are  good  Methodists  who  know 
but  little  about  John  Wesley;  and  yet  even  if 
all  knowledge  of  Luther  and  Wesley  should 
fade  from  men's  minds  we  would  still  have  good 
Lutherans  and  good  Methodists  as  long  as  men 
conceived  of  God  and  the  world  and  man  after 
the  methods  of  Luther  and  Wesley,  and  that 
because  the  bond  that  binds  them  together  is 
not  their  personal  allegiance  to  Luther  and 
Wesley  but  their  common  acceptance  of  their 
views  of  life  and  the  world.  And  so,  if  to  be 
a  Christian  is  simply  to  hold  views  concerning 
God  and  man  and  the  world  similar  to  those 
that  Jesus  held,  and  to  manifest  in  our  lives,  as 
best  we  may,  those  same  graces  of  the  spirit, 
it  is  evident  that  Christianity  might  continue 
to  thrive  even  if  Jesus  himself  should  be  wholly 
forgotten,  for  in  that  case  the  bond  that  binds 
Christians  together  is  not  their  personal  alle- 
giance to  Jesus  himself  but  their  common  ac- 
ceptance of  the  principles  that  He  taught  and 
exemplified.  There  is  nothing  in  the  nature  of 
the  case,  therefore,  to  prevent  those  who  see  in 
Jesus  simply  a  subject  of  the  Christian  religion 
from  preaching  a  Christianity  in  which  Jesus 


30  Jesus  as  He  Was  and  Is 

himself  occupies  no  essential  place.  In  fact  it 
would  seem  as  though  they  were  bound  to 
preach  a  Christianity  in  which  Jesus  is  not  ab- 
solutely indispensable. 

No  doubt  most  of  those  who  commend  to  us 
a  Jesus  who  is  simply  a  subject  of  the  Christian 
religion  hold  that  such  a  Jesus  actually  existed 
and  that  He  functioned  in  the  religious  life  of 
humanity  as  none  other.  Whether  they  are 
warranted  in  doing  this  may  indeed  be  ques- 
tioned, seeing  that  the  only  Jesus  witnessed  to 
by  our  sources  is  a  Jesus  who  is  at  the  same 
time  the  object  of  the  Christian  religion.  All 
I  am  concerned  to  point  out  in  this  connection, 
however,  is  that,  for  these,  the  question  of  the 
historicity  of  Jesus  is  not  a  question  of  life  or 
death  for  Christianity.  It  is  otherwise,  how- 
ever, for  those  who  see  in  Jesus  the  object  of  the 
Christian  religion.  With  them  it  is  a  question 
of  absolute  importance.  For  them  a  Christian- 
ity without  Jesus  or  even  a  Christianity  in 
which  Jesus  does  not  occupy  an  absolutely  in- 
dispensable place  is  unthinkable.  Eliminate 
Jesus  or  assign  Him  a  place  lower  than  the 
highest  and  Christianity  as  they  understand  it 
would  no  longer  exist. 

Now  no  doubt  that  view  of  Christianity  that 
conceives  of  Jesus  as  simply  a  subject  of  re- 


His  Place  in  the  Christian  Religion       31 

ligion  can  bo  presented  attractively  and  in  a 
way  that  little  is  said  that  every  Christian  does 
not  approve  of.  As  we  listen  to  its  advocates 
we  are,  as  a  rule,  led  to  dissent  not  so  much 
because  of  what  is  said  as  because  of  what  is  not 
said.  With  most  of  what  they  say  I  find  my- 
self agreeing,  and  yet  nothing  is  more  certain 
to  my  mind  than  that  they  leave  out  of  con- 
sideration that  which  is  most  vital,  that  which 
is  most  essential  to  any  adequate  conception 
of  the  Christian  religion.  In  fact,  unless  a  man 
believes  more  than  they  do,  I  am  unable  to 
understand  how  he  is  warranted  in  believing  as 
much  as  they  do.  The  views  concerning  God 
and  man  and  the  universe  they  commend  to  us 
are,  no  doubt,  in  large  part,  true,  seeing  they 
have  been  derived  from  Jesus  himself,  but  what 
guaranty  we  have  that  these  views  are  right 
views  is  more  than  I  can  see  unless  Jesus  be 
infinitely  more  than  the  first  Christian.  If 
Jesus  was  simply  the  first  Christian,  what  as- 
surance have  we  that  He  was  not  mistaken  in 
His  representation  of  reality?  In  that  case 
why  should  it  be  supposed  that  we  are  incap- 
able of  improving  on  His  views  or  why  should 
it  even  be  supposed  that  the  time  will  never 
come  when  we  will  be  warranted  in  setting  aside 
His  views  altogether?     How  can  we  suppose 


32  Jesus  as  He  Was  and  Is 

that  in  a  Jew,  who  lived  1,900  years  ago,  is  to 
be  found  the  norm  for  the  religious  thought  and 
life  of  all  ages  unless  this  Jew  was  infinitely 
more  than  these  imagine? 

In  order,  however,  that  we  may  realize  how 
true  it  is  that  this  view  leaves  out  of  considera- 
tion that  which  is  most  essential  to  Christian- 
ity it  is  only  necessary  that  we  keep  a  firm 
grip  upon  two  facts.  In  the  first  place,  we  need 
to  keep  clearly  before  us  the  fact  that  Chris- 
tianity is  primarily  a  personal  religion,  that  at 
heart  it  consists  not  in  a  system  of  doctrines 
or  a  code  of  ethics,  still  less  in  a  system  of 
philosophy  or  an  imposing  ritual,  but  in  loving 
and  loyal  allegiance  to  a  person.  It  is  evident 
that  we  cannot  speak  of  Jesus  as  simply  a  sub- 
ject of  the  Christian  religion  without  eliminat- 
ing this  fundamental  distinction  between  Chris- 
tianity and  the  other  religions  of  the  earth  and 
without,  as  I  have  already  intimated,  assign- 
ing Him  a  position  in  the  Christian  religion 
similar  to  that  which  Buddha  and  Mohammed 
occupy  in  the  religions  they  founded. 

It  is  even  more  important,  in  the  second  place, 
that  we  keep  clearly  before  us  the  fact  that 
Christianity  is  essentially  a  religion  of  redemp- 
tion, that  at  its  very  heart  lies  the  conviction 
that  the  Jesus,  who  stands  at  its  center,  is  a 


His  Place  in  the  Christian  Religion       33 

Saviour  both  from  the  guilt  and  the  power  of 
sin,  in  the  sense  that  He  actually  saves  those 
who  put  their  trust  in  Him,  and  hence  that  the 
great  burden  of  its  message  to  the  world  is  em- 
bodied in  the  words :  ' '  This  is  a  faithful  saying 
and  one  worthy  of  all  acceptation  that  Christ 
Jesus  came  into  the  world  to  save  sinners." 
Eliminate  this  idea  and  we  may  call  what  is  left 
Christianity,  but  it  is  not  Christianity  as  Chris- 
tianity was  understood  by  the  Apostles  and  as 
it  has  been  and  is  understood  by  all  the  great 
branches  of  the  Christian  Church.  And  yet,  of 
course,  unless  Jesus  be  something  other  than 
the  first  of  Christians  and  the  best  of  men,  it  is 
inconceivable  that  He  should  be  a  Saviour  in 
the  sense  in  which  Christianity  proclaims  Him 
to  be  such.  He  can  be  such  a  Saviour  only  if 
He  lives  to-day  as  one  who  is  able  to  save  and 
who  does  save  all  those  who  put  their  trust 
in  and  obey  Him. 

However  much,  therefore,  of  the  true  and  the 
good  and  the  beautiful  those  may  proclaim  who 
refuse  to  look  upon  Jesus  as  the  object  of  re- 
ligion, I  cannot  but  feel  that  they  leave  out  of 
consideration  that  which  is  most  vital  to  any 
adequate  conception  of  the  Christian  religion. 
Men  may  indeed  say — men  are  saying  to-day — 
that  this  is  the  only  sort  of  Christianity  that 


34  Jesus  as  He  Was  and  Is 

commends  itself  to  our  modern  world  and  that 
by  preaching  a  Jesus  who  is  the  object  as  well 
as  a  subject  of  religion  we  are  keeping  men 
out  of  the  churches  and  preventing  that  unity 
of  thought  and  life  so  much  desired  by  us  all. 
I  do  not  believe  that  this  is  true,  yet  in  so 
far  as  it  may  be  true,  my  influence  will  go  to 
keep  these  men  out  of  the  churches  and  to  con- 
tinue that  difference  of  religious  opinion  that 
exists  even  among  those  who  call  themselves 
Christians.  To  me  it  is  a  matter  of  compara- 
tive indifference  whether  men  embrace  Chris- 
tianity unless  it  be  a  Christianity  in  which 
Jesus  himself  is  the  central  object.  Moreover, 
I  do  not  think  that  unity  of  thought  and  life 
in  any  body  of  men  is  worth  striving  for,  unless 
it  be  a  unity  that  finds  its  center  in  loving  and 
loyal  allegiance  to  Jesus  Christ.  We  read  in 
John's  Gospel  that  in  the  days  of  His  flesh  there 
was  a  division  among  the  people  because  of 
Him,  and  we  may  be  sure  that  there  will  con- 
tinue— and  that  there  ought  to  continue — to  be 
a  division  of  the  people  because  of  Him  until 
all  men  find  in  Him  their  common  Lord. 

I  have  pointed  out  the  fundamental  differ- 
ence between  those  who  see  in  Jesus  simply  a 
subject  of  the  Christian  religion  and  those  who 
see  in  Him  at  the  same  time  its  object — a  dif- 


His  Place  in  the  Christian  Religion       35 

ference  so  radical  that  those  who  see  in  Jesus 
simply  the  subject  of  religion,  especially  in  view 
of  the  fact  that  such  might  conceivably  dis- 
pense with  Jesus  altogether,  are  not  entitled 
to  be  called  Christians  at  all  as,  broadly  speak- 
ing, Christianity  has  always  been  understood 
and  as  it  is  understood  by  all  the  great  branches 
of  the  Christian  Church. 

I  am  not  seeking  to  convey  the  impression, 
however,  that  we  should  look  upon  Jesus  as  the 
object  of  religion,  as  One  whom  we  should  trust 
and  obey  as  a  divine  being,  merely  because  He 
has  been  so  conceived  by  the  Church  of  all  ages, 
though  no  doubt  this  consideration  is  fitted  to 
commend  it  powerfully  to  our  attention.  Our 
ultimate  warrant  for  so  conceiving  of  Jesus 
is,  of  course,  those  considerations  or  evidences 
that,  in  my  judgment,  have  amply  justified  the 
Church  of  all  ages  in  so  thinking  of  Jesus.  It 
is  beside  my  purpose  to  develop  these  consider- 
ations— that  would  be  to  open  up  the  whole  field 
of  "Christian  evidences" — apart  from  remind- 
ing you  again  that  this  conception  of  Jesus  is  so 
imbedded  in  the  Christian  tradition,  both  apos- 
tolic and  post-apostolic,  that  every  bit  of  evi- 
dence that  goes  to  prove  Christianity  the  true 
religion  goes  to  prove  at  the  same  time  that  this 


36  Jesus  as  He  Was  and  Is 

is  how  we  ought  to  conceive  of  Jesus,  and  not 
otherwise. 

And  now  permit  me  to  remind  you  in  conclu- 
sion that  it  is  because  Jesus  occupies  such  a 
position  in  the  Christian  religion  that  the  ques- 
tion, What  think  ye  of  Christ?  assumes  such 
tremendous  importance.  If  Jesus  had  been  sim- 
ply a  subject  of  religion,  our  personal  attitude 
toward  Him  could  not  be  a  matter  of  supreme 
moment;  in  fact  in  that  case  we  would  not  be 
able  to  assume  personal  relations  with  Jesus 
any  more  than  we  are  able  to  assume  personal 
relations  with  Augustine  or  Luther  or  "Wesley. 
In  that  case  the  question,  What  think  ye  of  His 
teachings?  might  indeed  be  of  much  moment; 
but  the  question,  What  think  ye  of  Christ  him- 
self? in  the  sense  of,  What  personal  relations  do 
you  sustain  to  the  person  of  Jesus'?  would  be 
unintelligible.  To  perceive,  however,  that  Jesus 
is  the  object  of  religion  is  to  perceive  that  He 
is  the  living  One  in  whose  hands  are  the  issues 
of  life,  and  hence  that  the  attitude  we  take 
up  toward  Him  is  indeed  a  matter  of  weal  or 
woe,  of  heaven  or  hell,  of  life  or  death.  Surely 
Paul  was  a  typical  Christian,  and  yet  we  know 
that  Paul  possessed  calmness  and  confidence  of 
soul,  throughout  life  and  in  the  presence  of 
death,  not  merely  because  he  could  have  said, 


His  Place  in  the  Christian  Religion       27 

1 '  My  life  lias  been  brought  under  the  influence 
of  the  teaching  and  example  of  Jesus ' ' ;  but  be- 
cause he  could  say, l '  I  know  in  whom  I  have  put 
my  trust  and  I  am  persuaded  that  He  is  able 
to  guard  that  which  I  have  committed  unto 
Him  against  that  day." 


CHAPTER    TWO:    WHENCE    CAME 
JESUS? 


What  think  ye  of  the  Christ?    Whose  son  is  He? 

— Matthew  xxii:  42. 


And  the  Word  became  flesh  and  dwelt  amongst  us  (and  we 
beheld  his  glory,  glory  as  of  the  only  begotten  from  the 
Father),  full  of  grace  and  truth. 

— John  i:  14. 


n 

WHENCE  CAME  JESUS? 

THE  question  that  Jesus  put  to  the  Phari- 
sees, What  think  ye  of  the  Christ? 
Whose  Son  is  He?  raises  the  problem  of 
His  parentage,  or,  more  broadly  speaking,  of 
His  origin.  Was  He  simply  the  son  of  David 
and  so  of  purely  earthly  parentage  or  origin? 
Or  was  He  at  the  same  time  the  son  of  God  and 
so  of  divine  origin  in  a  sense  in  which  others  are 
not?  In  other  words,  can  He  be  explained  as  a 
product  of  purely  earthly  influences,  in  the  sense 
in  which  other  men  are,  or  must  we  posit  an  ex- 
ceptional irruption  of  the  divine  into  the  sphere 
of  the  human  to  account  for  Him? 

It  lies,  of  course,  upon  the  very  surface  of  the 
New  Testament  narrative  that  the  Christ  of 
the  New  Testament — assuming  that  He  actu- 
ally lived  and  walked  among  men — was  of  di- 
vine origin,  one  who  cannot  be  inclosed  in 
purely  human  molds,  one  who  cannot  be  ex- 
plained by  the  laws  of  heredity  plus  those  of 
environment,  one  whose  rank  in  the  scale  of 
beings  places  Him  alongside  of  God. 

41 


42  Jesus  as  He  Was  and  Is 

For  recall,  if  you  will,  how  the  character  of 
Jesus  is  dramatized  in  the  pages  of  the  New 
Testament.  There  He  is  pictured  as  the  son  of 
David  and  yet  at  the  same  time  as  David's 
Lord ;  as  one  who  was  the  son  of  Mary  and  yet 
at  the  same  time  God  over  all  blessed  forever ; 
as  one  who  was  bone  of  our  bone  and  flesh  of 
our  flesh  and  yet  who  might  readily  have  clung 
to  His  equality  with  God;  as  one  who  was  in 
the  form  of  a  servant  and  yet  whose  proper 
form  was  the  form  of  God;  as  one  who  in- 
creased in  stature  and  yet  who  is  the  same  yes- 
terday, to-day  and  forever;  as  one  who  in- 
creased in  wisdom  and  yet  who  knew  the  Father 
even  as  the  Father  knew  Him ;  as  one  who  was 
born  under  the  law  and  who  fulfilled  the  law  and 
yet  who  in  His  own  name  gave  a  new  and  more 
perfect  law ;  as  one  who  died  at  the  mandate  of 
a  Eoman  governor  and  yet  who  is  the  Prince 
of  the  kings  of  the  earth;  as  one  who  was  re- 
ceived up  into  heaven  out  of  the  sight  of  His 
disciples  and  yet  who  continues  to  be  with  them 
even  to  the  end  of  the  world. 

If  such  a  being  as  this  ever  walked  this  earth, 
it  is  evident  that  He  was  not  of  purely  earthly 
origin,  and  hence  that  in  answer  to  the  question, 
Whose  Son  is  He?  we  must  say  in  substance 
with  Paul  that  while  He  was  the  son  of  David 


Whence  Came  Jesus?  43 

according  to  the  flesh  yet  that  His  personality 
as  a  whole  can  be  explained  only  if  we  affirm 
at  the  same  time  that  He  was  declared  to  be  the 
Son  of  God  with  power  by  the  resurrection  from 
the  dead. 

But  while  this  is  true,  and  generally  admitted 
to  be  true,  it  may  not  be  apparent  at  once  that 
the  Christ  of  the  New  Testament  was  possessed 
of  a  divine  as  well  as  a  human  parentage.  There 
are  those,  at  any  rate,  who  admit  the  truth  of 
all  that  has  been  said  and  yet  who  maintain 
that  the  Christ  of  the  New  Testament  is  a 
purely  earthly  product.  They  do  this  by  main- 
taining that  the  Christ  of  the  New  Testament  is 
an  ideal  creation,  essentially  a  product  of  the 
imagination,  and  hence  that  the  Christ  of  the 
New  Testament  never  actually  existed.  In 
other  words  these  maintain  that  the  Christ  of 
the  New  Testament  has  the  reality  of  one  of 
Shakespeare's  characters  or  one  of  the  charac- 
ters of  a  modern  novel  rather  than  the  reality 
that  attaches  to  an  historical  figure  like  Grant 
or  Lincoln.  Even  when  these  use  language, how- 
ever, that  implies  that  the  character  of  Jesus 
as  portrayed  in  the  New  Testament  has  no 
more  reality  than  the  figures  of  mythology,  or 
the  figures  that  appear  in  the  pages  of  poets 
and  novelists,  they  do  not  necessarily  mean  to 


44  Jesus  as  He  Was  and  Is 

imply  that  there  was  no  basis  in  fact  for  the 
character  of  Jesus  as  found  in  the  New  Testa- 
ment— even  myths  have  some  basis  in  fact,  and 
of  course  the  characters  that  appear  in  the 
pages  of  poets  and  novelists  are  drawn  largely 
from  life — but  they  do  mean  to  imply  that  the 
real  Jesus  was  so  added  to,  so  transformed,  so 
idealized  that  He  is  no  longer  to  be  classed  with 
historical  figures  like  Grant  and  Lincoln  but 
rather  with  such  figures  of  fiction  as  meet  us 
in  the  pages  of  poets  and  novelists. 

If  such  be  the  reality  that  attaches  to  the 
character  of  Jesus,  then  it  is  evident  that  the 
question  of  our  text  calls  for  a  figurative 
rather  than  for  a  literal  reply ;  and  hence  that 
when  we  are  questioned  concerning  His  parent- 
age we  ought  to  reply  that  it  is  purely  human, 
that  He  is  wholly  a  product  of  this  earth  in 
the  sense  that  we  do  not  need  to  assume  any 
peculiar  manifestation  of  God  to  account  for 
Him.  As  the  characters  of  Shakespeare  owe 
their  existence  to  the  brain  of  Shakespeare,  so 
the  character  of  Christ,  as  it  appears  in  the 
New  Testament,  owes  its  existence,  directly  or 
indirectly,  to  those  who  wrote  the  books  of  the 
New  Testament.  i 

The  theory  that  the  Jesus  of  the  New  Testa- 
ment is  essentially  a  fictitious  character  is  a 


Whence  Came  Jesus?  45 

specious  one,  though  no  doubt  the  chief  consid- 
eration in  its  favor  in  the  eyes  of  the  modern 
world  is  the  fact  that  it  offers  an  explanation 
of  Jesus  that  is  free  from  the  miraculous.  And 
yet  plausible  as  the  theory  may  be  in  itself,  it 
is  none  the  less  a  theory  that  must  be  accepted 
with  closed  eyes  if  it  is  to  be  accepted  at  all. 
We  must  not  look  at  it  too  critically;  we  must 
not  scrutinize  it  too  closely:  the  moment  it  is 
investigated,  the  moment  we  ask  whether  it 
really  affords  an  adequate  explanation  of  the 
facts  it  collapses  like  a  soap  bubble  and  we  are 
left  wondering  why  we  ever  imagined  it  an 
explanation  of  the  facts. 

Not  to  mention  others,  there  are  two  insur- 
mountable obstacles  in  the  way  of  regarding  the 
character  of  Jesus  as  portrayed  in  the  New 
Testament  as  fictitious,  as  a  product  of  the 
imaginative  genius.  The  first  of  these  is  the 
impossibility  of  accounting  for  the  Jesus  of 
the  New  Testament  unless  we  assume  that  He 
actually  existed.  A  man  of  ordinary  ability  can 
give  us  a  report  of  what  he  has  seen  and  heard 
but  it  takes  a  man  of  extraordinary  ability  to 
invent  or  to  create.  Now,  by  common  consent, 
the  character  of  Jesus  surpasses  that  to  be 
found  in  any  other  book.  No  other  character 
has  so  caught  and  held  the  attention  of  men. 


46  Jesus  as  He  Was  and  Is 

No  other  character  presents  such  a  combination 
of  virtues  with  such  an  absence  of  defects.  Who 
in  that  early  Christian  community  was  capable 
of  creating  the  character  of  Jesus  ?  "Who  for 
that  matter  in  any  age,  apart  from  the  writers 
of  the  New  Testament,  have  shown  themselves 
capable  of  dealing  imaginatively  with  the  super- 
natural without  falling  into  the  grotesque  and 
the  absurd?  Certainly  if  the  Jesus  of  the  New 
Testament  is  essentially  an  ideal  character,  we 
must  no  longer  place  Shakespeare  and  Goethe 
at  the  head  of  creative  geniuses,  for  in  that  case 
this  honor  unquestionably  belongs  to  those  who 
are  responsible  for  the  New  Testament.  I  sub- 
mit that  no  explanation  of  the  character  of 
Jesus  is  adequate  save  that  which  confesses 
that  the  early  disciples  have  simply  given  us 
a  description  of  that  which  they  had  seen  and 
heard  and  hence  that  they  were  reporters  rather 
than  creators. 

The  second  of  these  insurmountable  obstacles 
in  the  way  of  seeing  in  Jesus  essentially  a 
fictitious  being  is  the  manner  in  which  He  has 
energized  in  history.  Even  if  it  could  be  sup- 
posed that  the  early  disciples  so  idealized  the 
character  of  Jesus  that  the  Jesus  of  the  Gos- 
pels is  not  the  Jesus  of  history,  it  would  still 
be  necessary  to  explain  the  effects  that  Jesus 


Whence   Came  Jesus?  47 

has  wrought  in  history.  This  is  the  point  to 
which  I  want  to  direct  your  attention — if  the 
Jesus  of  the  New  Testament  is  essentially  a 
fictitious  character,  how  has  it  come  about  that 
He  has  energized  in  history  as  though  He  were 
essentially  a  reality?  Some  write  at  times  as 
though  the  problem  raised  by  the  story  of  Jesus 
did  not  differ  essentially  from  that  raised  by 
any  other  unusual  story,  as  though  it  were  on  a 
par,  for  instance,  with  the  legends  that  cluster 
about  the  saints  of  the  middle  ages.  There  is, 
however,  this  essential  difference,  a  difference 
so  fundamental  moreover  as  to  preclude  any 
fair  comparison  between  them.  These  legends 
have  had  no  appreciable  influence  on  history 
while  the  personality  of  Jesus — whether  we  re- 
gard it  as  real  or  fictitious — has  been  the  most 
potent  of  all  influences  in  shaping  and  molding 
the  life  of  our  western  world.  As  the  late  Prof. 
Fairbairn  put  it:  "We  have  not  solved,  we  have 
not  even  stated  and  defined,  the  problem  as  to 
the  person  of  Christ  when  we  have  written  the 
life  of  Jesus,  for  that  problem  is  raised  even 
less  by  the  Gospels  than  by  Christ's  place  and 
function  in  the  collective  history  of  man ;  or,  to 
be  more  correct,  by  the  life  described  in  the 
Gospels  and  the  phenomena  represented  by  uni- 
versal history  viewed  in  their  reciprocal  and 


48  Jesus  as  He  Was  and  Is 

interpretative  interrelations"  (The  Philosophy 
of  the  Christian  Religion,  p.  13).  What  de- 
mands explanation  from  this  point  of  view 
as  Prof.  Fairbairn  also  points  ont  is,  in  the 
first  place,  "how  has  it  come  about  that  Christ's 
historical  action  has  corresponded  to  His  fic- 
titious rather  than  His  real  character?"  and,  in 
the  second  place,  ' '  What  sort  of  blind  accident 
or  ironical  indifference  to  right  can  reign  in 
a  universe  which  has  allowed  to  fiction  greater 
powers  than  have  been  granted  to  truth  T ' '  In 
other  words,  unless  we  assume  the  reality  of 
Christ,  we  have  an  historical  effect  of  world- 
magnitude  for  which  we  have  no  adequate  ex- 
planation. The  history  of  the  world  being  what 
it  is  we  are  precluded  from  looking  upon  Jesus 
as  other  than  a  reality.  In  fact,  if  the  influence 
Jesus  has  exerted  over  the  lives  and  institutions 
of  men  do  not  prove  Him  a  reality,  then  it  may 
be  safely  said  that  there  is  no  such  thing  as 
reality  and  that  men  in  searching  for  truth 
and  for  a  rational  explanation  of  things  are  but 
"disquieting  themselves  in  vain."  And  in  that 
case  what  significance  can  we  attach  to  these 
lives  of  ours?  Could  we  do  better  than  make 
our  own  the  words  of  Macbeth  and  say:  "Life 
is  but  a  walking  shadow;  a  poor  player  that 
struts  and  frets  his  hour  upon  the  stage  and 


Whence  Came  Jesus?  49 

then  is  heard  no  more — a  tale  told  by  an  idiot 
full  of  sound  and  fury,  signifying  nothing"? 

If,  then,  it  be  impossible  to  account  for  Jesus 
as  a  problem  in  literature  without  assuming 
that  He  actually  lived  and  walked  among  men, 
and  more  especially  if  it  be  impossible  to  ac- 
count for  the  history  of  the  world,  as  it  has 
evolved  during  the  last  nineteen  centuries,  with- 
out assuming  that  He  was,  and  is,  a  reality, 
it  is  evident  that  He  was  not  of  ordinary  earthly 
parentage  and  that  the  problem  that  confronts 
us — seeing  that  Jesus  is  portrayed  in  the  Scrip- 
tures as  both  man  and  God — is  not  simply  the 
birth  and  development  of  a  great  man  but  at 
the  same  time  the  coming  into  earthly  condi- 
tions of  the  Son  of  God  himself.  Assuming, 
as  we  are  forced  to  do,  that  the  Jesus  of  the 
New  Testament  was  an  historical  reality,  it  is 
evident  that  what  we  call  the  incarnation  was 
not  so  much  the  birth  of  a  unique  man  as  a  mo- 
mentous event  in  the  eternal  life  of  God  him- 
self, and  hence  that  Paul  and  John  were  not 
indulging  in  speculation  but  stating  the  sober 
truth  when  the  one  wrote  "Have  this  mind  in 
you,  which  was  also  in  Christ  Jesus :  who  exist- 
ing in  the  form  of  God,  counted  not  the  being 
on  an  equality  with  God  a  thing  to  be  grasped, 
but  emptied  himself,  taking  the  form  of  a  ser- 


50  Jesus  as  He  Was  and  Is 

vant,  being  made  in  the  likeness  of  men"  (Phil- 
ippians  ii:  5-7),  and  when  the  other  wrote  "In 
the  beginning  was  the  Word  and  the  Word 
was  with  God  and  the  Word  was  God.  *  *  * 
And  the  Word  became  flesh  and  dwelt  among 
us  and  we  beheld  His  glory,  glory  as  of  the 
only  begotten  from  the  Father,  full  of  grace  and 
truth"  (Johni:l,  2,  14). 

Now,  it  is  the  light  of  what  has  been  said  that 
we  ought  to  consider  the  accounts  that  the 
New  Testament  itself  gives  of  the  parentage  of 
Jesus.  These  accounts  are  found  in  the  open- 
ing chapters  of  Matthew's  and  Luke's  Gospels. 
Are  we  to  regard  these  accounts  as  sober  state- 
ments of  truth,  or  are  we  to  place  them  on  a 
par  with  the  mythological  tales  of  a  somewhat 
similar  nature  that  meet  us  in  other  connec- 
tions? Assuredly  our  reply  cannot  be  made 
without  reference  to  the  question  whether  the 
life  and  career  of  Jesus  stamp  Him  as  a  divine 
being.  If  I  believe  that  there  was  nothing  in 
His  life  and  career  inconsistent  with  my  regard- 
ing Him  as  a  mere  man,  i.  e.,  one  who  was 
wholly  the  product  of  the  forces  ordinarily 
energizing  in  this  world,  I  might  not  esteem  the 
story  of  the  virgin  birth  credible.  In  that  case 
I  might  feel  certain  not  only  that  He  had  a 
human  mother  but  that  He  had  a  human  father 


Whence  Came  Jesus?  $1 

like  the  rest  of  us,  and  hence  look  upon 
the  accounts  of  Matthew  and  Luke  as  contain- 
ing myths  and  legends  rather  than  history. 
But  as  I  cannot  consider  the  life  and  character 
and  influence  of  Jesus  without  having  forced 
upon  me  the  conclusion  that  He  was  more  than 
a  man,  that  He  was  indeed  God  manifest  in  the 
flesh,  these  accounts  of  a  supernatural  birth 
seem  altogether  credible  to  me.  In  other  words, 
if  I  were  to  cease  to  regard  Jesus  Christ  as 
a  divine  being  I  might  easily  cease  to  believe 
in  the  virgin  birth;  but  as  long  as  I  continue 
to  regard  Him  as  divine  I  am  sure  that  I  will 
continue  to  believe  in  the  virgin  birth.  It  may 
be  going  too  far  to  say  that  if  Jesus  was  a 
divine  being  He  must  have  been  born  of  a  vir- 
gin; but  surely  if  He  was  a  divine  being  no 
sufficient  reason  can  be  advanced  for  doubting 
Matthew's  and  Luke's  accounts  of  His  birth, 
seeing  that  they  come  to  us  as  integral  parts 
of  their  Gospels  and  as  such  entitled  to  the 
same  credence  as  the  other  portions  of  their 
Gospels.  Surely  there  is  nothing  incredible  in 
the  notion  that  a  supernatural  being  should 
have  come  into  the  world  in  a  supernatural 
manner. 

I  hold,  therefore,  that  the  question  of  the 
virgin  birth  is  inextricably  bound  up  with  the 


52  Jesus  as  He  Was  and  Is 

question  of  Christ's  divinity.  If,  then,  one 
should  say  to  me,  I  do  not  believe  in  the  virgin 
birth,  I  would  straightway  ask  him,  Do  you  be- 
lieve in  the  divinity  of  Jesus?  If  he  answered 
No,  and  could  not  be  moved  from  that  position, 
I  should  cherish  little  hope  of  being  able  to 
persuade  him  that  a  virgin  was  the  mother  of 
Jesus.  But  if  he  answered  Yes,  then  I  should 
cherish  such  a  hope  because  I  should  feel  that 
a  mere  acquaintance  with  the  facts  of  the  case 
would  be  sufficient  to  convince  him  of  this  truth. 
That  I  am  warranted  in  this  is  evidenced  by 
the  fact  that  practically  all  those  who  reject 
the  divinity  of  Jesus  reject  at  the  same  time 
the  virgin  birth,  while  practically  all  those  who 
accept  the  divinity  of  Jesus  accept  at  the  same 
time  the  virgin  birth.  No  doubt  there  are  ex- 
ceptions, even  here,  but  no  one  will  deny  that 
the  facts  are  substantially  as  I  have  stated 
them.  It  is  clear,  therefore,  that  I  am  not  alone 
in  holding — that  men  in  general  have  held — 
that  the  question  of  the  virgin  birth  is  but  a 
part  of  the  larger  question  of  Christ's  divinity 
or,  to  speak  strictly,  of  His  deity.  Do  we  on 
Christmas  Day  merely  commemorate  the  birth 
of  a  great  man  1  Then  the  accounts  of  Matthew 
and  Luke  may  well  seem  incredible.  Do  we  on 
that  day  commemorate  the  coming  into   this 


Whence  Came  Jesus?  53 

world  of  the  only  begotten  Son  of  God?  Then 
there  is  nothing  incredible  in  the  gospel  ac- 
counts, because  everything  is  in  perfect  har- 
mony with  what  might  be  expected  at  the  com- 
ing of  such  a  being  into  this  world. 

I  have  sought  to  make  clear  not  only  that 
Jesus  is  described  in  the  New  Testament  as 
the  son  of  God  no  less  than  the  son  of  Mary, 
but  that  in  Him  we  have  to  do  with  an  objective 
reality,  with — to  use  Dr.  Fairbairn's  expres- 
sion— a  mystery  of  nature  rather  than  a  mys- 
tery of  art.  To  perceive  this  is  to  perceive  the 
inadequacy  of  every  theory  of  life  in  which 
Jesus  does  not  find  a  natural  and  logical  place. 
When  a  lawyer  in  arguing  a  case  presents  a 
theory  of  the  case  that  leaves  out  of  considera- 
tion some  important  item  of  testimony,  all  his 
opponents  needs  to  do  to  prove  the  inadequacy 
of  his  theory  is  to  point  to  that  item  of  testi- 
mony and  show  that  it  does  not  find  a  natural 
and  logical  place  in  the  theory  of  the  case  that 
has  been  presented.  And  so  when  men  urge 
upon  us  systems  of  thought  or  theories  of  life 
and  of  conduct  in  which  the  Jesus  of  the  New 
Testament  does  not  find  a  natural  and  logical 
place,  all  we  need  to  do  to  point  out  the  in- 
adequacy of  these  theories  is  to  show  that  they 
are  urged  while  leaving  out  of  consideration  the 


54  Jesus  as  He  Was  and  Is 

central  fact  of  the  world's  history.  For  in- 
stance, here  is  a  man  who  urges  upon  us  a  thor- 
oughgoing theory  of  evolution,  according  to 
which  all  that  has  taken  place  in  nature  and  his- 
tory is  but  the  evolving,  the  unfolding  of  the 
potentialities  contained  in  the  original  world 
stuff.  Now  we  have  no  quarrel  with  evolution- 
ary theories  and  we  do  not  question  the  fact 
that  they  embody  much  of  truth,  and  yet  while 
they  contain  truth  it  is  evident  that  they  do 
not  contain  the  whole  truth  and  that  because 
the  Jesus  of  the  New  Testament  cannot  be  made 
to  square  with  a  thoroughgoing  scheme  of  evo- 
lution. Because  certainly  Jesus  was  not  sim- 
ply the  result  of  a  favorable  conjunction  of 
hereditary  influences.  In  Him  certainly  we 
have  an  extraordinary  irruption  of  the  divine 
into  the  sphere  of  the  human.  And  what  is 
true  of  any  thoroughgoing  theory  of  evolu- 
tion is  true  of  every  theory,  whether  it  be  sci- 
entific, moral  or  religious,  that  is  urged  upon  us. 
Unless  Jesus  finds  within  them  a  natural  and 
logical  place,  they  are,  to  say  the  least,  inade- 
quate. 

What  about  ourselves?  Does  Jesus  occupy 
a  place  in  our  thoughts  and  in  our  lives  con- 
sistent with  His  inherent  greatness?  Or  are 
we  ignoring  the  greatest  of  all  facts,  the  most 
significant  of  all  realities  f 


CHAPTER    THREE:     WHY    JESUS 
CAME 


Faithful  is  the  saying  and  worthy  of  all  acceptation  that 
Christ  Jesus  came  into  the  world  to  save  sinners. 

— /  Timothy  i:  15. 


in 

WHY  JESUS  CAME 

I  AM  going  to  speak  this  afternoon  concern- 
ing the  why  and  wherefore  of  Christ's 
coming  into  this  world.  In  order  that  I 
may  do  so  I  have  taken  as  my  text  a  saying, 
current  in  the  early  Church,  that  Paul  cites  in 
his  first  letter  to  Timothy.  This  saying  seems 
peculiarly  suited  to  our  purpose  because,  while 
bearing  the  stamp  of  Paul 's  approval,  it  comes 
to  us  as  a  saying  in  which  the  early  Christian 
community  had  crystallized  its  practical  belief 
in  the  Incarnation,  and  so  not  as  embodying 
truths  that  are  enunciated  for  the  first  time  but 
rather  as  embodying  truths  that  have  been 
tested  in  the  fires  of  experience  and  not  been 
found  wanting. 

It  lies  upon  the  surface  of  this  great  utter- 
ance that  the  Apostolic  Church  believed  in  the 
pre-existence  of  Jesus  Christ,  for,  of  course,  if 
He  came  He  must  have  existed  before  He  came. 
This  thought  was  involved  in  what  was  said  in 
the  preceding  chapter  and  perhaps  calls  for  no 
special  mention  in  this  connection.    I  want  to 

57 


58  Jesus  as  He  Was  and  Is 

remind  you,  however,  that  in  our  study  of  Jesus 
Christ  it  is  of  the  utmost  importance  that  we 
interpret  His  life  in  the  light  of  His  preexist- 
ence.  It  is  important,  in  the  first  place,  in  order 
that  we  may  keep  constantly  before  us  the  fact 
that  the  Incarnation  was  not  simply  the  birth 
of  a  great  man  but  rather  the  entering  into 
human  conditions  of  the  only-begotten  Son  of 
God,  and  hence  that  we  may  ever  realize  that  in 
Jesus  Christ  we  are  face  to  face  with  the  God- 
man.  It  is  important,  in  the  second  place,  in 
order  that  we  may  adequately  appreciate  the 
service  that  Jesus  has  rendered  us.  It  is  sim- 
ply impossible  for  us  adequately  to  appreciate 
what  Jesus  has  done  for  us  unless  we  remember 
that  the  Son  of  Man  came  not  to  be  minis- 
tered unto  but  to  minister  and  to  give  His  life 
a  ransom  for  many.  It  is  much  that  a  child  of 
earth  should  devote  himself  wholly  and  entirely 
to  the  interests  of  others,  but  it  is  infinitely 
more  that  the  Son  of  Heaven  should  have  de- 
nuded himself  of  that  glory  that  He  had  had 
with  the  Father  before  the  world  was,  in  order 
that  assuming  the  conditions  of  humanity  He 
might  devote  himself  to  the  furtherance  of  our 
welfare.  As  one  has  put  it:  "We  shall  never 
understand  the  Servant-Christ  until  we  under- 
stand that  He  was  and  is  the  eternal  Son  of 


Why  Jesus  Came  59 

the  Father.  His  service  began  long  before  He 
rendered  help  to  any  of  the  miserable  here  on 
earth.  His  service  began  when  He  laid  aside 
not  the  garments  of  the  earth  but  the  vesture 
of  the  heavens,  and  girded  himself  not  with  the 
cincture  woven  in  man's  loom  but  with  the  flesh 
of  our  humanity,  and  being  found  in  fashion  as 
a  man  bowed  himself  to  enter  into  the  condi- 
tions of  earth.  This  was  the  first  and  the  chief  - 
est  of  all  His  acts  of  self-sacrifice,  and  the  sanc- 
tity and  awfulness  of  it  runs  through  the  list 
of  all  His  deeds  and  make  them  unspeakably 
great.  It  was  much  that  His  hands  should  heal, 
that  His  lips  should  comfort,  that  His  heart 
should  bleed  with  sympathy  for  sorrow.  But 
oh,  it  was  more  that  He  had  hands  to  touch, 
that  He  had  lips  to  speak  to  human  hearts,  that 
He  had  the  heart  of  a  man  and  of  a  brother  to 
feel  with  as  well  as  for  us."  (A.  Maclaren,  Ex- 
positions of  Holy  Scripture.) 

This  saying,  however,  not  only  reminds  us 
that  the  early  Christian  community  believed  in 
the  pre-existence  of  Jesus,  it  reminds  us  more 
especially  of  its  belief  as  to  the  why  and 
wherefore  of  His  presence  in  this  world. 
"Faithful  is  the  saying  and  worthy  of  all  ac- 
ceptation, that  Christ  Jesus  came  into  the  world 
to  save  sinners." 


60  Jesus  as  He  Was  and  Is 

Now,  no  one  will  deny  that  the  presence  of  so 
extraordinary  a  being  on  this  earth  raises  a 
problem  that  cannot  be  evaded — a  problem, 
moreover,  that  calls  loudly  for  an  explanation 
and  that  whether  we  regard  His  presence  here 
from  a  purely  intellectual  or  a  purely  ethical 
standpoint,  i.  e.,  whether  we  are  concerned  to 
account  for  the  break  His  coming  into  this 
world  made  in  the  order  of  nature  or  whether 
we  are  concerned  to  account  for  the  presence 
of  Him  who  was  holy,  harmless  and  separate 
from  sinners  in  a  world  filled  with  sin  and 
shame,  in  a  world  reeking  with  iniquity  and 
blasphemy,  in  a  world  in  which  the  thoughts  of 
men 's  hearts  are  evil  and  that  continually. 

From  an  intellectual  standpoint  a  difficulty  is 
raised  by  the  fact  that  Christ's  entrance  into 
this  world  involved  a  break  in  the  order  of 
nature.  We  live  in  an  ordered  world,  in  a 
causally  connected  world,  in  a  world  in  which 
there  is  no  place  for  chance  or  caprice.  And 
yet  unquestionably  in  Jesus  Christ  we  are  face 
to  face  with  a  miracle  of  fact,  with  that  which 
the  causes  ordinarily  operating  in  this  world 
could  not  have  effected.  This  conviction  is 
forced  upon  us  whether  we  consider  the  great- 
ness of  His  personality  or  the  purity  of  His 
character.    For,  of  course,  an  absolutely  sinless 


Why  Jesus  Came  61 

being  refuses  as  resolutely  to  square  with  a 
purely  natural  interpretation  of  the  events  of 
this  world  as  does  the  presence  of  One  whose 
rank  in  the  scale  of  being  places  Him  above 
man.  Such  a  break  in  the  process  of  nature 
must  be  accounted  for.  It  can  be  accounted  for, 
however,  only  as  we  consider  it  in  the  light  of 
the  teaching  of  our  text — "Christ  Jesus  came 
into  the  world  to  save  sinners."  If  sin  had 
not  entered  into  this  world  Christ  would  never 
have  come,  but  sin  being  here  as  an  awful  real- 
ity the  coming  of  Christ  was  necessary  if  men 
were  to  be  saved,  if  a  fallen  race  was  to  be 
restored  to  its  God. 

No  doubt  we  are  frequently  told  that  the 
presumption  is  altogether  against  the  notion 
that  so  tremendous  an  event  as  the  Incarnation 
should  have  taken  place  upon  the  stage  of  this 
little  planet  of  ours.  Most  of  those  who  tell 
us  this  would  admit  that  there  exists  very 
strong  evidence  for  believing  in  the  Incarnation 
— evidence  that  would  compel  belief  if  the  event 
was  an  ordinary  one.  The  Incarnation,  how- 
ever, is  not  an  ordinary  event.  In  fact  we 
could  not  conceive  a  more  extraordinary  one. 
It  is  not  so  surprising,  therefore,  that  some 
should  refuse  to  admit  that  it  happened  not- 
withstanding the  strong  evidence  by  which  it  is 


62  Jesus  as  He  Was  and  Is 

supported.  "We  all  know  that  the  amount  of 
evidence  required  to  produce  faith  in  an  event 
varies  with  the  nature  of  the  event  itself.  If, 
for  instance,  one  or  two  persons  of  ordinary- 
veracity  should  tell  you  that  they  had  seen  a 
man  knocked  down  by  an  automobile  you  would 
no  doubt  believe  them,  since  there  is  nothing 
very  improbable  about  such  an  event.  If,  how- 
ever, twelve  of  the  most  intelligent  and  upright 
men  of  this  community  should  tell  you  that  they 
had  seen  a  man  with  the  feet  of  a  dog  and  the 
wings  of  a  bird,  it  is  not  probable  that  you  would 
believe  them.  In  the  one  case  you  would  believe 
on  slight  evidence;  in  the  other  you  would  re- 
fuse to  believe  in  the  face  of  exceedingly  strong 
evidence.  It  is  not  surprising,  therefore,  that 
men  should  admit  that  the  evidence  in  favor 
of  the  Incarnation  is  strong  and  yet  that  they 
should  refuse  to  admit  that  such  an  event  ever 
took  place. 

Now,  is  there  such  an  antecedent  presumption 
against  the  Incarnation  as  these  would  have  us 
believe?  I  do  not  think  so.  In  fact  I  main- 
tain that  when  this  event  is  looked  at  in  the 
light  of  its  purpose  we  are  warranted  in  saying 
rather  that  the  presumption  is  in  favor  of  its 
occurrence.  At  this  point  everything  hinges,  so 
it  seems  to  me,  upon  the  moral  and  spiritual 


Why  Jesus  Came  63 

condition  of  this  world.  If  we  think  that  this 
world  is,  on  the  whole,  in  a  normal  condition, 
morally  and  spiritually ;  that  men  do  not  stand 
in  any  real  need  of  a  Saviour  from  the  guilt  and 
power  of  sin,  we  will  think  it  more  or  less  in- 
conceivable that  God's  Son  should  have  as- 
sumed flesh  and  dwelt  among  us — because  we 
will  be  unable  to  perceive  that  there  was  any 
real  need  for  such  an  act  on  His  part.  But  if, 
on  the  other  hand,  we  believe  that  this  world 
is  in  an  abnormal  condition,  morally  and  spirit- 
ually ;  that  it  has  gone  wrong,  seriously  wrong, 
so  wrong  that  it  is  a  lost  and  condemned  world ; 
then  for  those  who  believe  in  the  existence  of 
a  God  who  is  interested  in  the  welfare  of  His 
creatures,  the  presumption  is  in  favor  of  the 
notion  that  He  will  intervene,  that  He  will  put 
forth  His  hand  to  save  and  to  redeem. 

I  hold,  therefore,  that  the  credibility  of  the 
Incarnation  is  bound  up  with  the  question  of  the 
moral  and  spiritual  condition  of  mankind.  I  am 
not  alone  in  this.  Men  in  general  hold  with 
me  in  this,  as  is  evident  from  the  fact  that  we 
find  a  close  connection  between  men's  views  of 
the  moral  and  spiritual  condition  of  the  race 
and  their  attitude  to  the  Incarnation.  Gen- 
erally speaking,  where  we  find  men  thinking 
that  there  isn't  much  the  matter  with  this  world, 


64  Jesus  as  He  Was  and  Is 

or  at  least  that  it  is  in  as  good  condition  as  we 
can  fairly  expect  at  this  stage  of  its  develop- 
ment, we  find  men  who  refuse  to  believe  in 
Christ  as  God  manifest  in  the  flesh ;  bnt  where 
we  find  men  who  recognize  that  this  is  a  lost 
world,  a  world  that  left  to  itself  would  fester 
in  its  corruption  from  eternity  to  eternity,  there 
we  find  men  who  perceive  the  need  of  an  Incar- 
nation and  so  men  who  are  ready  to  assign  due 
weight  to  the  evidence  that  goes  to  show  that 
God  did  indeed  so  love  this  world  that  He  gave 
His  only-begotten  Son  that  whosoever  believeth 
on  Him  might  not  perish  but  have  everlasting 
life. 

A  scarcely  smaller  difficulty  is  raised  when 
we  consider  the  presence  of  Jesus  Christ  in 
this  world  from  an  ethical  point  of  view.  We 
need  only  think  of  Jesus  as  the  Holy  One  and 
to  recall  that  He  voluntarily  came  into  this 
world — this  world  of  sin — to  perceive  the  char- 
acter of  the  difficulty  that  is  here  raised.  What 
is  required  is  that  we  should  account  for  the 
presence  of  One  who  was  holy,  harmless  and 
undefiled  in  a  world  filled  with  sin  and  shame, 
in  a  world  reeking  with  iniquity  and  blasphemy 
— and  that  as  the  result  of  His  own  choice. 
What  is  required  of  us  is  not  simply  that  we 
should  account  for  a  change  from  one  place  to 


Why  Jesus  Came  65 

another  on  Christ's  part,  His  descent  from 
heaven  to  earth.  It  is  required  at  the  same 
time  that  we  account  for  the  fact  that  He  trans- 
ferred himself  from  a  sphere  of  light  to  one 
of  darkness,  from  a  world  of  purity  and  holi- 
ness to  one  of  sin  and  iniquity.  It  would  seem, 
under  ordinary  circumstances,  that  this  is  the 
last  place  to  which  such  a  person  as  Jesus 
would  come.  We  may  even  go  further  and  say 
that,  at  first  sight,  it  would  seem  as  though  by 
coming  into  this  world  Jesus  had  placed  him- 
self in  a  compromising  position.  It  is  somewhat 
as  though  we  should  be  told  that  a  Christian 
man,  held  in  high  honor  by  all,  had  been  seen 
entering  one  of  the  evil  haunts  of  our  city. 
"Would  we  not  ask  at  once  for  an  explanation? 
Did  he  go  as  an  officer  of  the  law?  Did  he  go 
on  some  errand  of  mercy?  And  unless  some 
such  explanation  was  offered,  would  we  not  be 
at  a  loss  to  account  for  his  presence  in  such  a 
place?  And  so  it  is  when  we  hear  of  Jesus, 
the  holy  and  the  righteous  One,  being  in  this 
world  of  sin.  We  feel  that  His  presence  here 
needs  accounting  for.  Here  too,  however,  our 
text  affords  us  the  needed  explanation.  "This 
is  a  faithful  saying  and  one  worthy  of  all  ac- 
ceptation that  Christ  Jesus  came  into  the  world 
to  save  sinners."    We  might  indeed  have  sup- 


66  Jesus  as  He  Was  and  Is 

posed,  without  reflecting  on  His  character,  that 
Jesus  came  into  this  world  to  judge  sinners. 
Our  text,  however,  embodies  the  joyous  thought 
that  it  was  to  save  sinners  that  Jesus  came  into 
this  world.  There  is  no  warrant,  therefore, 
for  supposing  that  He  came  into  this  world  be- 
cause He  was  attracted  by  sin.  Far  from  it. 
Sin  was  that  one  thing  that  He  hated  with  per- 
fect hatred.  He  was  here,  rather,  on  an  errand 
of  mercy  to  sinful  men,  so  that  it  was  not  His 
love  of  sin  but  His  love  of  sinners  that  brought 
Him  here. 

The  great  thought  embodied  in  our  text,  then, 
is  the  thought  that  it  was  specifically  to  save 
sinners  that  Christ  Jesus  came  into  this  world. 
No  doubt  there  are  those  who  suppose  that  He 
would  have  come  into  this  world  even  if  sin 
had  not  first  entered,  only  in  that  case  He 
would  not  have  come  as  the  suffering  One.  The 
Scriptures,  of  course,  nowhere  discuss  this 
question,  since  they  were  written  by  those  who 
were  interested  in  redemption  rather  than  phi- 
losophy. And  at  any  rate  discussion  as  to  what 
would  have  taken  place  if  sin  had  not  entered 
this  world  is  possessed  of  only  an  academic  in- 
terest. Whatever  may  prove  to  be  the  ulti- 
mate account  of  Christ 's  coming  into  the  world, 
this   at   least   is   certain — the   proximate    ac- 


Why  Jesus  Came  67 

count  of  His  coming  is  to  be  found  in  this 
world's  need  of  a  Saviour.  Everywhere 
in  the  Scriptures  the  coming  of  Christ  is 
grounded  in  sin.  Everywhere  we  are  taught 
that  it  was  the  needy  condition  of  men  that  led 
Him  to  forsake,  for  a  season,  His  throne  of 
Glory.  ' '  The  Son  of  Man  came  to  seek  and  save 
that  which  was  lost."  "I  came  not  to  call  the 
righteous  but  sinners  to  repentance."  "They 
that  be  whole  have  no  need  of  a  physician  but 
they  that  are  sick. "  "To  this  end  was  the  Son 
of  God  manifested  that  He  might  destroy  the 
works  of  the  devil."  "God  so  loved  the  world 
that  He  gave  His  only-begotten  Son  that  who- 
soever believeth  on  Him  might  not  perish  but 
have  everlasting  life."  Such  citations  as  these 
might  be  multiplied.  Moreover,  that  which  calls 
forth  ecstatic  praise  on  the  part  of  the  Biblical 
writers  is  the  thought  that  the  pure  and  holy 
God  should  have  sent  His  Son  to  redeem  a  sin- 
ful race.  "Oh  the  depth  of  the  riches  both  of 
the  wisdom  and  the  knowledge  of  God,"  cries 
Paul,  for  instance,  in  contemplation  of  this 
thought — "how  unsearchable  are  His  judg- 
ments and  His  ways  past  tracing  out."  We 
should  permit  nothing,  therefore,  to  conceal 
from  us  the  fact  that  Christ's  coming  into  this 


68  Jesus  as  He  Was  and  Is 

sinful  world  was  motived  by  His  desire  to  seek 
and  to  save  the  lost. 

To  say  that  it  was  specifically  to  save  sinners 
that  Christ  came  into  this  world  is  not,  indeed, 
to  say  that  this  was  the  only  end  He  had  in 
view ;  and  yet  if  we  are  to  preserve  the  empha- 
sis of  the  Scripture  we  must  say,  without  hesi- 
tation, that  it  was  the  chief  end  He  had  in  view. 
It  is  true,  for  instance,  that  He  came  to  reveal 
God  and  to  be  the  Light  of  this  world  in  things 
moral  and  spiritual.  It  is  true  that  He  came 
to  reorganize  society,  to  establish  a  kingdom 
in  which  justice  should  prevail  and  in  which 
love  should  be  the  law.  And  yet,  important  as 
are  these  ends,  they  are  none  the  less  subordi- 
nate to  the  great  central  purpose  of  His  com- 
ing. To  regard  them  as  of  primary  importance 
is  to  misunderstand  the  purpose  of  His  life;  it 
is  to  exalt  the  corollary  above  the  main  proposi- 
tion; it  is  to  value  the  by-product  more  than 
the  principal  product.  Moreover,  it  is  only 
as  Christ  saves  this  world  from  sin  that  His 
work  as  a  Prophet  and  as  a  King  becomes  ef- 
fective. It  is  sin  that  lies  at  the  root  of  our 
moral  and  spiritual  ignorance  as  well  as  of  our 
social  maladjustments,  and  hence  it  is  only  as 
sin  is  eliminated  from  our  lives  that  we  are  able 
to  profit  by  the  knowledge  that  He  brings  as 


Why  Jesus  Came  69 

well  as  adjust  our  social  conditions  to  the  re- 
quirements of  that  kingdom  of  love  and  right- 
eousness that  He  is  establishing  in  this  world. 
We  may  be  sure,  therefore,  that  Christ 's  central 
purpose  in  coming  into  this  world  is  indicated 
by  the  words  of  our  text,  "This  is  a  faithful 
saying  and  one  worthy  of  all  acceptation  that 
Christ  Jesus  came  into  the  world  to  save  sin- 
ners." 

There  is  wrapped  up  in  this  saying  not  only 
the  thought  that  Christ  came  into  this  world 
to  save  sinners  but  that  He  proved  sufficient 
for  His  task.  It  is  conceivable  that  Jesus  should 
have  come  into  this  world  to  accomplish  our 
salvation  and  yet  have  proved  unequal  to  the 
task  and  so  have  gone  down  to  terrible,  even 
though  glorious,  defeat.  No  thought,  however, 
was  further  from  the  minds  of  those  who 
framed  this  saying.  They  saw  in  Him  one  who 
had  proved  wholly  sufficient  for  His  task,  as  was 
evidenced  to  them  by  His  resurrection  from  the 
dead  as  well  as  by  that  which  He  had  wrought 
in  their  own  souls. 

Moreover,  it  is  impossible  that  this  saying 
should  mean  for  us  all  that  it  meant  for  those 
early  Christians  unless  we  attach  to  the  word 
"save"  that  same  full,  rich  meaning  that  is  at- 
tached to  it  in  the  Scriptures.    We  so  often  use 


"jo  Jesus  as  He  Was  and  Is 

the  word  in  a  weakened  sense  as  when  we  speak, 
for  instance,  of  Lincoln  as  one  who  saved  his 
country,  or  as  when  we  speak  of  a  slum-worker 
as  one  who  saves  the  outcasts,  that  we  are  apt 
to  use  it  in  the  same  weakened  sense  when  we 
apply  it  to  the  work  of  Jesus.  I  do  not  deny 
that  it  is  proper  to  use  the  word  in  such  con- 
nections, but  certainly,  when  the  word  is  used 
in  the  fulness  of  its  meaning,  it  is  Jesus  alone 
who  should  be  called  a  Saviour,  for  He  alone 
" saves"  in  the  full  rich  sense  in  which  the 
word  is  used  in  Scripture.  If  we  are  adequately 
to  appreciate  what  Jesus  does  for  us  we  must 
make  our  own  the  words  that  Prof.  B.  B.  War- 
field  has  spoken  in  connection  with  this  text : — 
"Jesus  did  all  that  is  included  in  the  great  word 
'save.'  He  did  not  come  to  induce  us  to  save 
ourselves,  or  to  help  us  to  save  ourselves,  or  to 
enable  us  to  save  ourselves.  He  came  to  SAVE 
us.  And  it  is,  therefore,  that  His  name  was 
called  Jesus — because  He  should  save  His  peo- 
ple from  their  sins.  The  glory  of  our  Lord, 
surpassing  all  His  other  glories  to  usward,  is 
just  that  He  is  our  actual  and  complete  Saviour ; 
our  Saviour  to  the  uttermost.  Our  knowledge, 
even  though  it  be  His  gift  to  us  as  our  Prophet, 
is  not  our  Saviour,  be  it  as  wide  and  as  deep 
and  as  high  as  it  is  possible  to  conceive.    The 


Why  Jesus  Came  71 

Church,  though  it  be  His  gift  to  us  as  our  King, 
is  not  our  Saviour,  be  it  as  holy  and  true  as  it 
becomes  the  Church,  the  bride  of  the  Lamb,  to 
be.  The  reorganized  society  in  which  He  has 
placed  us,  though  it  be  the  product  of  His  holy 
rule  over  the  redeemed  earth,  is  not  our  Sav- 
iour, be  it  the  new  Jerusalem  itself,  clothed  in 
its  beauty  and  descended  from  heaven.  Nay,  let 
us  cut  more  deeply  still.  Our  faith  itself,  though 
it  be  the  bond  of  our  union  with  Christ  through 
which  we  receive  all  His  blessings,  is  not  our 
saviour.  We  have  but  one  Saviour;  and  that 
one  Saviour  is  Jesus  Christ  our  Lord.  Noth- 
ing that  we  are  and  nothing  that  we  can  do 
enters  in  the  slightest  measure  into  the  ground 
of  our  acceptance  with  God.  Jesus  did  it  all. 
And  by  doing  it  all  He  has  become  in  the  fullest 
and  widest  and  deepest  sense  the  word  can 
bear — our  Saviour.  For  this  end  did  He  come 
into  the  world — to  SAVE  sinners ;  and  nothing 
short  of  the  actual  and  complete  SAVING  of 
sinners  will  satisfy  the  account  of  His  work 
given  by  His  own  lips  and  repeated  from  them 
by  all  His  apostles.  It  is  in  this  great  fact,  in- 
deed, that  there  lies  the  whole  essence  of  the 
gospel.  For  let  us  never  forget  that  the  gospel 
is  not  good  advice  but  good  news.  It  does  not 
come  to  us  to  make  known  to  us  what  we  must 


72  Jesus  as  He  Was  and  Is 

do  to  earn  salvation  for  ourselves,  but  proclaim- 
ing to  us  what  Jesus  has  done  to  save  us.  It  is 
salvation,  a  completed  salvation,  that  it  an- 
nounces to  us ;  and  the  burden  of  its  message  is 
just  the  words  of  our  text — that  Christ  Jesus 
came  into  the  world  to  SAVE  sinners."  (The 
Poiver  of  God  unto  Salvation,  pp.  48-49.) 

What  significance  does  the  great  declaration 
of  this  text  have  for  us?  For  Paul  it  contained 
the  most  vital  of  truths;  the  basis  of  all  his 
hopes;  his  only  confidence  in  life  and  death. 
No  doubt,  if  we  do  not  belong  to  the  class  called 
sinners  we  need  not  be  concerned  over  the  dec- 
laration of  our  text  any  more  than  we  need  be 
concerned  about  cures  for  consumption  or  can- 
cer, so  long  as  we  are  perfectly  healthy.  This 
text  contains  no  message  for  the  sinless.  Do 
we  belong  to  that  class  1  Is  it  nothing  to  us  that 
Christ  Jesus  came  into  the  world  to  save  sin- 
ners? If  so,  it  is  only  because  we  are  like  a 
man  who  is  unconcerned  about  a  cure  for  cancer 
only  because  he  is  unaware  of  the  fact  that  he  is 
a  victim  of  that  dread  disease.  For  to  see  our- 
selves and  others  as  we  really  are  is  to  perceive 
that  this  would  be  a  world  without  hope  were 
it  not  for  the  fact  that  Christ  Jesus  came  into 
this  world  to  save  sinners. 


CHAPTER  FOUR:  JESUS  AS  KING 


Let  all  the  house  of  Israel  therefore  know  assuredly,  that 
God  hath  made  Him  both  Lord  and  Christ,  this  Jesus  whom 
ye  crucified.  — Acts  ii:  36. 


Wherefore  also  God  highly  exalted  Him,  and  gave  unto  Him 
the  name  which  is  above  every  name;  that  in  the  name  of 
Jesus  every  knee  should  bow,  of  things  in  heaven  and  things 
on  earth  and  things  under  the  earth,  and  that  every  tongue 
should  confess  that  Jesus  Christ  is  Lord,  to  the  glory  of  God 
the  Father.  — Philippians  ii:  9-11. 


IV 

JESUS  AS  KING 

I   HAVE  pointed  out  the  need  of  interpreting 
the  life  of  Jesus  in  the  light  of  His  pre- 
existence.     Before  proceeding  further,  I 
want  to  point  out  the  need  of  interpreting  His 
life  in  the  light  of  His  resurrection  and  ascen- 
sion. 

It  is  fundamental  to  the  Christian  view  not 
only  that  Jesus  was  consciously  alive  prior  to 
His  birth  at  Bethlehem — for  otherwise  we 
would  be  forced  to  see  in  what  we  call  the  In- 
carnation simply  the  birth  of  a  great  man — 
but  also  that  He  is  consciously  alive  to-day.  The 
object  of  our  faith  as  Christians  is  not  simply 
a  Jesus  that  was.  The  object  of  our  faith  is, 
at  the  same  time,  a  Jesus  that  is.  The  resur- 
rection and  the  ascension  are,  therefore,  funda- 
mental because  they  are  the  transition  points 
between  the  Jesus  that  was  and  the  Jesus  that 
is.  Apart  from  them  the  whole  history  of  the 
Christian  Church  is  inconceivable.  For  as  the 
late  Prof.  Fairbairn  said:    "The  resurrection 

75 


j6  Jesus  as  He  Was  and  Is 

created  the  Church,  the  risen  Christ  made 
Christianity  and  even  now  it  stands  or  falls  with 
Him.  *  *  *  If  it  be  true  that  no  living  Christ 
ever  issued  from  the  tomb  of  Joseph,  then  that 
tomb  became  the  grave  not  only  of  a  man  but 
of  a  religion  with  all  the  hopes  built  upon  it 
and  all  the  splendid  enthusiasms  it  has  in- 
spired. ' ' 

While  then,  as  I  have  pointed  out,  the  his- 
toricity of  Jesus  is  a  matter  of  fundamental  im- 
portance, yet  it  is  equally  important  that  we 
realize  that  Jesus  is  more  than  an  historical 
character.  We  must  never  forget  that  the  cruci- 
fixion was  followed  by  the  resurrection  and  the 
ascension,  and  hence  that  Jesus  differs  from 
others  not  only  by  virtue  of  the  fact  that  He 
possessed  a  pre-existent  life,  but  equally  by  vir- 
tue of  the  fact  that  He  possesses  a  post-mortem 
life.  In  saying  that  Jesus  alone  possesses  a 
post-mortem  life  I  do  not,  of  course,  mean  to  im- 
ply that  at  death  others  pass  out  of  existence; 
but  I  do  mean  to  imply  that,  though  they  con- 
tinue to  exist,  they  cease  to  be  active  in  this 
world's  affairs.  We  are  no  longer  conscious  of 
their  presence  and  any  influence  they  may  exert 
is  simply  the  after-effects  of  that  which  they  did 
while  on  the  earth.  It  is  otherwise,  however, 
with  Jesus.    He  is  still  active  in  this  world 's  af- 


Jesus  as  King  yj 

fairs,  and  to-day  He  is  exerting  a  direct  and 
molding  influence  over  the  lives  and  institutions 
of  men  similar  to,  though  infinitely  greater  than, 
that  which  He  exerted  while  He  still  tabernacled 
on  the  earth.  In  fact  the  secret  of  Christian- 
ity's progress  in  this  world,  of  the  hold  it  has  on 
the  hearts  of  men,  lies  in  the  fact  that  it  brings 
them  into  contact  with  a  living  Christ,  one  to 
whom  they  can  pray,  one  in  whom  they  can 
put  their  trust,  one  upon  whom  they  can  build 
their  confidence,  one  who  is  able  to  save  unto 
the  uttermost  them  that  draw  near  unto  God 
through  Him,  seeing  that .  He  ever  liveth  to 
make  intercession  for  them. 

That  Jesus  is  represented  in  the  New  Testa- 
ment as  more  than  an  historical  figure  is  evi- 
dent to  the  most  casual  reader.  Luke,  for  in- 
stance, in  the  preface  to  the  book  of  Acts,  tells 
us  that  in  his  former  treatise,  i.  e.,  his  Gospel, 
he  had  dealt  with  the  things  that ' '  Jesus  began 
to  do  and  to  teach,  until  the  day  in  which  He 
was  received  up,"  thus  implying  that  in  this 
second  treatise  he  intended  to  deal  with  the 
things  that  Jesus  continued  to  do  and  teach 
after  His  ascension.  In  fact,  if  Luke  himself 
had  named  the  book  it  is  probable  that  he 
would  have  called  it  The  Acts  of  the  Risen 
Lord  rather  than  The  Acts  of  the  Apostles, 


78  Jesus  as  He  Was  and  Is 

inasmuch  as  lie  ever  looks  upon  the  Apostles 
as  but  the  instruments  through  whom  Jesus 
continued  to  carry  on  His  work  in  the  world. 
Moreover,  Luke's  viewpoint  is  shared  by 
all  the  writers  of  the  New  Testament.  All 
its  books  were  written  subsequent  to  Christ's 
death  and  by  men  who  were  firmly  con- 
vinced that  He  was  a  living  reality.  Peter 
speaks  not  only  for  himself  but  for  the 
early  Church  as  a  whole  when  he  says : ' '  Blessed 
be  the  God  and  Father  of  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ, 
who  according  to  His  great  mercy  begat  us 
again  unto  a  living  hope  by  the  resurrection  of 
Jesus  Christ  from  the  dead,  *  *  *  whom  having 
not  seen  ye  love;  on  whom  though  now  ye  see 
Him  not,  yet  believing,  ye  rejoice  greatly  with 
joy  unspeakable  and  full  of  glory :  receiving  the 
end  of  your  faith,  even  the  salvation  of  your 
souls." 

It  is  this  fact  that  makes  the  New  Testament 
the  most  living,  the  most  modern,  the  most  up- 
to-date  of  all  books.  It  is  a  book  that  in  the 
nature  of  the  case  can  never  lose  its  significance, 
seeing  that  it  has  to  do  with  One  who  can  say, 
"I  am  He  that  liveth  and  was  dead  and  behold 
I  am  alive  f orevermore. ' '  The  New  Testament 
tells  us,  therefore,  not  only  of  what  Jesus  was 
but  of  what  He  is ;  not  only  of  how  He  thought 


Jesus  as  King  79 

and  felt  nineteen  hundred  years  ago  but  of  how 
He  thinks  and  feels  to-day;  not  only  of  the 
power  He  wielded  then  but  of  the  power  He 
wields  now;  not  only  of  the  fact  that  He  re- 
ceived sinners  while  on  earth  but  of  the  fact  that 
He  receives  them  to-day:  so  that  He  says  to 
us  as  truly  as  He  said  to  those  who  saw  Him  in 
the  days  of  His  flesh,  "Come  unto  me,  all  ye 
that  labor  and  are  heavy  laden,  and  I  will  give 
you  rest.  Take  my  yoke  upon  you  and  learn  of 
me ;  for  I  am  meek  and  lowly  of  heart :  and  ye 
shall  find  rest  unto  your  souls." 

I  am  especially  concerned,  in  this  chapter,  to 
direct  your  attention  to  the  fact  that  Jesus 
exists  to-day  as  Lord,  as  King,  as  One  whose 
right  it  is  to  rule,  as  One  whose  will  is  the  su- 
preme standard  of  conduct,  so  that  our  first 
question,  where  matters  of  conduct  are  at  issue, 
should  ever  be,  not  What  is  expedient?  or  What 
is  popular?  but  What  is  the  will  of  Jesus? 
What  would  He  have  me  to  do  ? 

That  Jesus  was  and  is  a  King  is  a  truth 
spread  very  broadly  over  the  pages  of  Scrip- 
ture. He  was  foretold  as  such  in  the  Old  Tes- 
tament. In  the  psalms  of  David  we  read:  "I 
have  set  my  King  upon  my  holy  hill  of  Zion. 
*  *  *  Ask  of  me  and  I  will  give  thee  the  nations 
for  thine  inheritance,  and  the  uttermost  parts 


80  Jesus  as  He  Was  and  Is 

of  the  earth  for  thy  possession.  Thou  shalt 
break  them  with  a  rod  of  iron ;  Thou  shalt  clash 
them  in  pieces  like  a  potter's  vessel."  In  the 
Prophecy  of  Daniel  we  read :  ' '  One  like  the  Son 
of  Man  came  with  the  clouds  of  heaven  and 
came  to  the  ancient  of  days.  And  there  was 
given  Him  dominion  and  glory  and  a  kingdom, 
that  all  peoples  and  nations  and  languages 
should  serve  Him ;  His  dominion  is  an  everlast- 
ing dominion  and  His  kingdom  that  which  shall 
not  be  destroyed. ' '  Moreover,  at  the  Annuncia- 
tion, the  angel  Gabriel  said  to  the  Virgin  Mary : 
"Thou  shalt  conceive  in  thy  womb  and  bring 
forth  a  son  and  shall  call  His  name  Jesus.  He 
shall  be  great  and  shall  be  called  the  Son  of 
the  Highest :  and  the  Lord  God  shall  give  unto 
Him  the  throne  of  His  father  David;  and  He 
shall  reign  over  the  house  of  Jacob  forever; 
and  of  His  kingdom  there  shall  be  no  end. ' '  But 
not  only  was  He  foretold  as  such;  He  claimed 
to  be  such  while  He  was  on  the  earth — witness, 
for  instance,  the  events  of  Palm  Sunday.  More- 
over He  is  repeatedly  spoken  of  as  such,  subse- 
quent to  the  resurrection.  Witness  the  words 
of  Peter:  "Let  all  the  house  of  Israel  know  as- 
suredly that  God  hath  made  him  both  Lord  and 
Christ,  this  Jesus  whom  ye  crucified. ' '  Witness 
the  words  of  Paul :  "Wherefore  God  hath  highly 


Jesus  as  King  8 1 

exalted  Him  and  given  Him  a  name  which  is 
above  every  name;  that  at  the  name  of  Jesus 
every  knee  should  bow,  of  things  in  heaven  and 
things  on  the  earth  and  things  under  the  earth, 
and  that  every  tongue  should  confess  that  Jesus 
Christ  is  Lord  to  the  glory  of  God,  the  Father." 
While  finally,  not  to  cite  the  utterances  of 
others,  John  in  the  book  of  Eevelation  speaks  of 
the  Lamb  as  the  "King  of  kings  and  Lord  of 
lords." 

That  Jesus  was  and  is  a  King  is  a  fact,  more- 
over, that  is  recognized  and  acknowledged  by 
all  branches  of  the  Christian  Church — as,  of 
course,  was  to  be  expected  in  view  of  the  teach- 
ings of  Scripture.  Eoman  Catholics  and 
Protestants  are  at  one,  at  least,  in  acknowl- 
edging Him  as  King  of  kings  and  Lord  of  lords. 
But  while  Roman  Catholics  and  Protestants  are 
at  one  in  acknowledging  Christ  as  King,  they 
differ  somewhat  radically  in  their  conception  of 
the  manner  in  which  He  exercises  His  king- 
ship. Roman  Catholics  would  have  us  believe 
that  Christ  has  appointed  the  Pope  as  His  vice- 
gerent on  earth;  and  hence  that  He  exercises 
His  kingly  authority  through  the  instrumental- 
ity of  another.  In  that  case  we  do  not  deal 
directly  with  the  King  himself  but  with  His 
vicar  or  deputy,  the  Pope.    It  is  no  doubt  con- 


82  Jesus  as  He  Was  and  Is 

ceivable  that  Christ  should  have  thus  delegated 
His  authority  to  another.  There  are  no  valid 
reasons,  however,  for  supposing  that  He  ac- 
tually did.  We  hold,  therefore,  with  the  whole 
Protestant  world,  that  the  Pope  presumes  to  ex- 
ercise an  authority  that  does  not  rightfully  be- 
long to  him ;  and  hence  that  we  are  directly  re- 
sponsible to  King  Jesus  himself. 

No  doubt,  the  kingship  of  Jesus  is  widely 
ignored.  All  about  us  we  see  those  who  say  by 
their  actions,  if  not  by  their  words,  that  they 
do  not  admit  His  right  to  rule  over  them.  It  is 
necessary  for  us  to  distinguish,  therefore,  be- 
tween His  de  facto  and  His  de  jure  rule,  i.  e., 
between  the  obedience  that  is  actually  yielded 
Him  and  the  obedience  that  is  His  by  law  and 
right.  According  to  law  and  right  Jesus  is  en- 
titled to  universal  obedience.  As  a  matter  of 
fact,  however,  there  are  multitudes  who  refuse 
to  yield  Him  the  homage  and  obedience  that  is 
His  due.  We  may  be  sure,  however,  that  things 
will  not  always  remain  as  they  are  in  this  re- 
spect. Because  Jesus  is  what  He  is,  He  will 
make  good  His  claims  and  the  time  will  yet 
come  when  all  men,  willingly  or  unwillingly,  will 
acknowledge  His  Lordship. 

Let  no  one  imagine  that  Christ's  kingship 
rests  upon  our  consent  and  hence  that  He  exer- 


Jesus  as  King  83 

cises  authority  only  over  those  who  acknowledge 
His  kingship.  It  is  not  for  you  and  me,  it  is 
not  for  any  man  to  say,  whether  he  will  live 
in  Christ's  kingdom.  No  doubt,  we  do  exercise 
some  choice  as  regards  the  kingdoms  of  this 
world.  If  we  do  not  like  the  way  authority  is 
exercised  in  one,  it  is  our  privilege  to  move  to 
another  more  to  our  liking.  Nothing  like  this  is 
possible  in  connection  with  the  kingdom  of 
Christ,  however.  His  kingdom  is  not  confined 
to  any  special  longitude  or  latitude.  Go  where 
we  will,  we  are  still  within  His  jurisdiction 
and  answerable  to  His  authority.  We  might 
as  well  imagine  that  we  can  go  where  the  law 
of  gravitation  does  not  operate  as  suppose  that 
we  can  go  where  Christ  does  not  hold  sway. 
And  hence,  just  as  we  have  to  reckon  with  the 
operation  of  the  law  of  gravitation,  whether  we 
will  or  no,  so  we  have  to  reckon  with  the  rule  of 
Jesus  Christ,  whether  we  will  or  no.  And 
hence,  just  as  it  is  the  part  of  wisdom  to  so  ad- 
just ourselves  to  the  law  of  gravitation  that 
it  will  operate  for  our  advantage  and  not  for 
our  disadvantage,  so  is  it  the  part  of  wisdom 
for  us  to  so  adjust  ourselves  to  Jesus  Christ 
that  the  operation  of  His  rule  may  bring  us 
not  woe  but  weal,  not  loss  but  gain,  not  death 
but  life. 


84  Jesus  as  He  Was  and  Is 

In  this  connection  it  is  important  that  we 
note  the  all-inclusiveness  of  Christ's  rule.  Not 
only  does  He  demand  obedience  from  all  men; 
He  demands  obedience  from  them  in  all  things. 
This  is  sometimes  overlooked.  There  are  those 
who  seem  to  think  that  life  is  built  in  hermet- 
ically sealed  compartments,  as  it  were,  and  that 
while  some  of  these  compartments  are  subject 
to  Christ's  sway  yet  that  others  are  exempt 
from  that  sway.  For  instance,  there  are  those 
who  are  kind  and  considerate  in  the  home  but 
who  are  hard  and  cruel  in  the  market-place ;  or 
those  who  are  just  and  honest  in  their  business 
dealings  but  crooked  in  politics;  or  those  who 
acknowledge  Christ  as  Lord  in  their  Church  re- 
lations but  who  practically  deny  Him  in  all  the 
other  relations  of  life.  As  a  matter  of  fact, 
however,  life  is  not  built  in  these  hermetically 
seal  compartments;  and  there  is  no  sphere  of 
life  conceivable  where  Jesus  does  not  maintain 
His  demand  that  He  be  honored  and  obeyed.  As 
King,  therefore,  Christ  ought  to  be  supreme  in 
our  private  lives.  Within  this  sphere  we  ought 
to  strive  to  bring  every  thought  and  activity 
into  captivity  to  Him.  As  King,  Christ's  will 
ought,  also,  to  be  supreme  in  our  social  and  busi- 
ness lives.  Within  these  spheres  we  should  be 
guided  by  the  golden  rule ;  we  should  place  the 


Jesus  as  King  85 

emphasis  upon  our  duties  rather  than  our 
rights.  Still  further,  as  King,  Christ's  will 
ought  to  be  supreme  in  our  political  lives.  To 
deny  this  is  tantamount  to  saying  that  politics 
ought  to  be  Christless.  This  is  not  to  say  that 
the  Church,  as  an  institution,  ought  to  mix  in 
politics,  but  it  is  to  say  that,  if  we  are  Chris- 
tians, our  Christianity  will  manifest  itself  in  the 
sphere  of  polities  as  well  as  in  other  spheres  of 
life.  Let  us  not  imagine,  then,  that  Christ's 
kingship  has  to  do  with  only  a  part  of  life;  it 
has  to  do  with  the  whole  of  life.  Wherever  we 
may  be,  whatever  we  may  do,  in  the  world  of 
action  or  of  thought,  we  are  under  the  dominion 
of,  and  as  such  responsible  to,  Jesus  Christ. 

And  now,  in  conclusion,  for  our  comfort  and 
encouragement,  let  us  remind  ourselves  that — ■ 
assuming  that  we  are  endeavoring  to  yield  Him 
that  homage  and  obedience  that  is  His  due — 
Christ  has  placed  himself  under  obligations  to 
us.  As  the  subjects  of  the  King  we  do,  indeed, 
owe  him  homage  and  obedience.  At  the  same 
time,  however,  He,  as  our  King,  grants  us  sup- 
port and  protection.  "What  holds  good  of  our 
relations  to  the  State  holds  good,  in  a  true  sense, 
of  our  relations  to  King  Jesus.  As  long  as  we 
obey  the  laws  of  the  State,  the  State  will  pro- 
tect and  defend  us.    If  others  seek  to  take  away 


86  Jesus  as  He  Was  and  Is 

our  life,  our  liberty  or  our  possessions  we  are 
not  dependent  upon  our  own  resources :  all  the 
resources  of  the  State  are  pledged  for  the  sup- 
port and  defense  of  even  the  weakest  and  most 
insignificant  of  its  citizens.  And  so  as  long  as 
we  serve  Jesus  as  King,  all  His  power  and 
strength  is  pledged  to  our  support  and  defense. 
No  matter  how  weak  and  helpless  we  may  be  in 
ourselves;  no  matter  how  strong  and  reliant 
they  may  be  who  are  against  us,  we  need  not 
fear,  for  greater  is  He  that  is  for  us  than  they 
that  be  against  us.  No  doubt,  if  left  to  our- 
selves, we  would  soon  be  overcome  of  evil;  but 
as  it  is  King  Jesus  watches  over  us  and  de- 
fends us,  and  thus  we  are  enable  to  prevail  not 
because  of  our  own  strength  but  because  of  the 
strength  of  Him  in  whom  we  have  put  our  trust. 
Let  us  then  be  of  good  cheer.  Though  all  the 
hosts  of  earth  and  Hell  should  conspire  together 
to  accomplish  the  undoing  of  the  weakest  of 
Christ's  true  subjects  they  would  not  succeed. 
Unto  Him  that  watches  over  us  and  defends  us 
has  been  committed  all  power  and  authority  in 
heaven  and  on  earth. 

What  is  our  attitude  toward  King  Jesus? 
Are  we  rendering  Him  that  homage  and  obedi- 
ence that  is  His  duel  "I  charge  thee  in  the 
sight  of  God,  who  quickeneth  all  things,  and  of 


Jesus  as  King  87 

Jesus  Christ,  who  before  Pontius  Pilate  wit- 
nessed the  good  confession,  that  thou  keep  the 
comniandnient,  without  spot,  without  reproach, 
until  the  appearing  of  our  Lord  Jesus  * 
who  is  the  blessed  and  only  Potentate,  the  King 
of  kings  and  Lord  of  lords ;  who  only  hath  im- 
mortality, dwelling  in  light  unapproachable; 
whom  no  man  hath  seen  nor  can  see :  to  whom 
be  honor  and  power  eternal.  Amen.  (I  Tim. 
6:13-16.) 


CHAPTER    FIVE:     JESUS    AS    OUR 
EXAMPLE 


For  I  have  given  you  an  example,  that  ye  also  should  do  as 
I  have  done  to  you.  — John  xiii:  15. 


He  that  saith  he  abideth  in  Him  ought  himself  also  to  walk 
even  as  He  walked.  ■ — I  John  ii :  6. 


JESUS  AS  OUK  EXAMPLE 

THE  object  of  our  faith,  as  Christians,  is 
the  risen  and  glorified  Christ.  To  us, 
Jesus  Christ  is  not  simply  One  who  lived 
1,900  years  ago ;  He  is  One  who  lives  to-day  as 
the  Lord  and  Life  of  humanity ;  and  so  One  to 
whom  we  can  pray,  One  upon  whom  we  can  build 
our  confidence,  One  from  whom  we  can  obtain 
strength  and  encouragement  in  the  battle  of  life. 
The  fact  that  the  object  of  our  faith  lives  to- 
day, however,  does  not  lead  us  to  underesti- 
mate the  significance  of  His  earthly,  historical 
life,  of  which  we  read  in  the  Gospels.  We  em- 
phasize His  risen  and  exalted  life — the  life  that 
Pie  lives  to-day — but  we  do  not  forget  either 
His  pre-existent  or  His  earthly  life  because 
apart  from  these  His  present  life  would  not 
have  that  significance  for  us  that  it  possesses. 
That  is  to  say,  we  emphasize  the  life  that  Jesus 
lives  to-day  because  it  includes  the  net  result 
of  all  that  went  before.  We  do  not  say,  there- 
fore, that  the  earthly  life  has  no  interest  for  us 

91 


92  Jesus  as  He  Was  and  Is 

because  the  object  of  our  faith  is  Jesus  as  He 
exists  to-day:  we  say  rather  that  Jesus  as  He 
exists  to-day  would  have  little  or  no  interest  for 
us  were  it  not  for  the  life  He  lived  on  earth. 
The  earthly  life  was,  indeed,  but  a  stage  in  the 
career  of  the  Son  of  God,  but  it  was  a  necessary 
stage  and  one  that  can  never  lose,  for  us,  its  sig- 
nificance. The  life  that  He  lived  on  earth,  the 
death  that  He  died  were  prerequisites  to  the 
functions  He  now  performs.  The  earthly,  his- 
torical life  of  Christ  is  possessed,  therefore,  of 
abiding  significance.  Hence  we  must  never  per- 
mit the  fact  that  Jesus  lives  to-day  to  lead  us  to 
underestimate  the  significance  of  what  He  ex- 
perienced in  the  days  of  His  flesh. 

There  is,  perhaps,  a  special  need  of  empha- 
sizing this  thought  this  afternoon  inasmuch  as 
I  am  to  speak  of  Jesus  as  our  Example.  No 
doubt,  it  is  equally  important  for  us  to  keep  the 
earthly  life  of  Jesus  before  us  when  we  are  con- 
sidering other  phases  of  His  significance,  seeing 
that  apart  from  His  earthly  life  He  would  have 
no  practical  significance  for  us  whatever.  Still 
it  is  conceivable  that  those  who  underestimate 
the  significance  of  the  earthly,  historical  life  of 
Jesus  should  think  of  Him,  in  some  sense  or 
other  and  in  some  way  or  other,  as  the  Saviour 
of  the  world,  as  the  Lord  and  Life  of  human- 


Jesus  as  Our  Example  93 

ity:  it  is  scarcely  conceivable,  however,  that 
such  should  see  in  Jesus  their  example,  their 
ideal  of  conduct — the  visible  embodiment  of  that 
which  they  should  be  and  do. 

That  Jesus  is  set  before  us,  in  the  Scriptures, 
as  an  example  is,  of  course,  not  open  to  doubt. 
He  himself  says :  "  I  have  given  you  an  example, 
that  ye  also  should  do  as  I  have  done  to  you." 
Moreover,  the  note  that  is  struck  in  these  words 
is  struck  again  and  again  not  only  by  Jesus 
himself  but  in  the  preaching  of  the  Apostolic 
age  as  it  is  reflected  in  the  pages  of  the  New 
Testament. 

Jesus  comes  before  us,  therefore,  not  only  as 
one  who  can  say,  "I  am  the  truth,"  "I  have 
always  spoken  accurately, "  ' i  My  teachings  are 
free  from  the  alloy  of  error."  He  comes  also 
as  one  who  says, ' '  There  is  no  contrast  between 
what  I  am  and  what  I  ought  to  be, "  "  I  have  al- 
ways acted  as  I  should  have  acted,"  "Do  as  I 
have  done  and  your  life  will  receive  the  ap- 
proval of  the  Father."  In  this  respect  Jesus 
differs  from  all  the  rest  of  earth's  great  moral 
and  spiritual  teachers.  There  have  been  plenty 
of  others  who  have  possessed  a  firm  conviction 
of  the  truth  of  that  which  they  taught  and  who 
have  not  hesitated  to  exhort  those  who  came 
under  their  influence  to  do  as  they  said,  to  shape 


94 


Jesus  as  He  Was  and  Is 


their  lives  in  accordance  with  their  teachings: 
but  none  other  ever  said  with  equal  emphasis, 
"Do  as  I  have  always  done  and  as  I  always 
do,"  and  that  because  all  others  have  been  con- 
scious— and  that  in  proportion  as  their  lives 
have  been  pure  and  their  ideals  lofty — of  the 
chasm  that  yawned  between  what  they  were 
and  what  they  ought  to  have  been,  of  the  dis- 
tance that  their  practice  lagged  behind  their 
knowledge.  Jesus,  however,  was  conscious  of 
no  such  contrast.  He  had  no  more  hesitation 
about  saying  "Do  as  I  do"  than  He  had  about 
saying  "Do  as  I  say." 

There  is  something  even  more  remarkable 
that  it  may  be  well  for  us  to  note,  in  passing,  in 
this  connection.  The  world  as  a  whole  has  been 
more  unanimous  in  acknowledging  that  Jesus 
lived  as  man  never  lived  than  it  has  been  in 
acknowledging  that  He  taught  as  man  never 
taught.  With  most  men  it  is  easier  to  pick 
flaws  in  their  conduct  than  it  is  to  pick  flaws 
in  their  teachings — I  am  sure  that  most  of  us 
would  find  it  easier  to  defend  our  beliefs  than 
to  defend  our  practices.  In  the  case  of  Jesus, 
however,  the  reverse  has  proven  true.  I  do 
not,  indeed,  mean  to  imply  that  it  is  easier 
to  pick  flaws  in  His  teachings  than  in  His  life 
inasmuch   as   I  conceive  both  to  be  flawless. 


Jesus  as  Our  Example  95 

What  I  mean,  rather,  is  that  many  who  have 
seen  what  they  conceive  to  be  flaws  in  His 
teachings  have  none  the  less  acknowledged  that 
His  life  was  beyond  criticism.  What  a  host  of 
unbelievers  have  paid  tribute  to  the  strength 
and  purity  of  His  life !  No  doubt,  there  are  ex- 
ceptions, as  we  shall  see,  and  yet  on  the  whole  it 
is  true  that  ' '  whether  or  no  they  admit  Him  di- 
vine they  all  admire  Him."  Lecky,  the  his- 
torian, wrote:  "Christianity  has  given  to  the 
world  an  ideal  character  who  throughout  all  the 
changes  of  eighteen  centuries  has  been  not  only 
the  highest  pattern  of  virtue  but  also  the  chief 
incentive  to  its  practice."  John  Stuart  Mill 
wrote : ' '  Religion  cannot  be  said  to  have  made  a 
bad  choice  in  pitching  on  this  man  as  the  ideal 
representative  and  guide  of  humanity ;  nor  even 
now  would  it  be  easy  even  for  an  unbeliever 
to  find  a  better  translation  of  the  rule  of  virtue 
from  the  abstract  into  the  concrete  than  the 
endeavor  to  live  so  that  Christ  would  approve 
our  life."  It  would  be  easy  to  multiply  such 
citations  taken  from  the  writings  of  unbelievers, 
but  these  will  perhaps  suffice  to  illustrate  the 
fact  that  the  world  has  been  no  less  unanimous 
— even  more  unanimous — in  recognizing  Jesus 
as  the  incomparable  example  than  it  has  been 
in  recognizing  Him  as  the  incomparable  teacher. 


96  Jesus  as  He  Was  and  Is 

It  was,  no  doubt,  a  hard  doctrine  that  Jesus 
proclaimed  when  He  said,  "I  have  given  you 
an  example  that  you  should  do  as  I  have  done. ' ' 
Unquestionably  the  thing  proposed  and  com- 
mended is  very  difficult  of  realization.  In  fact, 
so  difficult  is  the  thing  proposed  that  we  are 
tempted  to  look  upon  it  as  wholly  impracticable. 
What — we  are  inclined  to  ask — do  you  mean 
to  say  that  I  in  my  ordinary,  everyday  life, 
that  I  with  my  coarse,  commonplace  tempta- 
tions, that  I  with  my  way  to  make  and  my 
family  to  support  in  such  a  world  as  this,  that 
I  am  to  take  Jesus  Christ  as  my  model  and 
endeavor  to  do  as  He  did  or  else  forfeit  my 
right  to  be  called  a  Christian?  Well,  unques- 
tionably that  is  just  about  what  is  demanded  of 
us.  It  may  seem  a  hard  doctrine,  but  I  have  no 
authority  to  change  it.  I  am  not  preaching  it 
on  my  own  authority  but  on  the  authority  of 
Christ  himself  and  His  Holy  Apostles.  We  may 
think  the  demand  an  impracticable  one,  but 
only  by  affirming  that  Christ  and  His  apostles 
were  impracticable. 

I  know  that  there  are  those  who  presume  to 
think  that  Christ  would  have  achieved  greater 
practical  results  if  He  had  not  insisted  on  so 
lofty  an  ideal.  Is  it  not  sometimes  said  that 
to  set  up  perfection  as  a  goal  is  to  deaden  ef- 


Jesus  as  Our  Example  97 

fort  and  to  enthrone  despair?  That  if  some 
lesser  ideal  had  been  proposed  we  might  cherish 
some  hope  of  attaining  it,  but  surely  no  one,  in 
these  days  at  least,  can  live  up  to  the  standard 
that  Christ  set.  Why  then  strive  after  it?  Why 
seek  the  impossible?  Now  I  agree  with  these 
in  as  far  as  they  maintain  that  this  ideal  has 
never  been  fully  realized  by  any  of  Christ's 
followers,  but  I  differ  from  them  in  as  far  as 
they  maintain  that  a  man  with  an  imperfect 
ideal  will  make  greater  progress  in  the  ethical 
life  than  a  man  with  a  perfect  ideal.  A  lower- 
ing of  our  standard  also  means  a  slackening  of 
our  efforts.  It  is  ever  the  man  with  the  high- 
est ideal  who  is  most  careful  to  abstain  from 
what  is  evil  and  to  do  what  is  good.  Any 
standard  that  falls  short  of  perfection  permits 
us  to  look  upon  sin  with  a  certain  degree  of  al- 
lowance. All  history  and  all  experience,  I  be- 
lieve, supports  the  notion  that  our  ideal  ought 
to  be  perfect  no  matter  how  imperfect  may  be 
our  realization  of  that  ideal.  I  believe,  there- 
fore, that  Christianity  has  exerted  a  far  greater 
influence  for  good  than  it  would  have  exerted 
if  it  had  proposed  an  imperfect  ideal  for  our 
imitation.  And  hence  that  the  Scriptures  ex- 
hibit practical  wisdom  as  well  as  lofty  aspira- 
tion when  they  call  upon  us  to  imitate  Jesus 


98  Jesus  as  He  Was  and  Is 

Christ,  to  do  as  He  did.  Even  if  it  was  per- 
mitted me,  then,  I  would  not  knowingly  preach 
a  lower  standard  of  conduct  than  that  which  is 
exemplified  in  Jesus  Christ. 

In  considering  this  obligation  to  imitate 
Jesus  Christ  we  must  be  on  our  guard  lest  we 
misinterpret  our  duty  at  this  point.  We  need 
to  keep  clearly  before  us,  in  the  first  place, 
the  fact  that  our  imitation  of  Jesus  should  be 
in  the  spirit  rather  than  in  the  letter.  To  say 
that  we  should  do  as  He  did  is  not  to  say  that 
we  should  do  the  same,  identical  things  that 
He  did.  It  is  to  say  rather  that  we  should 
shape  our  lives  according  to  the  same  principles 
and  exemplify  the  same  spirit.  The  incident 
of  the  feet  washing  is  fitted  to  illustrate  the 
thought  I  have  in  mind  here.  A  literal  imita- 
tion of  Jesus  in  this  respect  would  mean  that 
we  ought  to  wash  one  another's  feet.  When  we 
remember,  however,  that  this  act  was  symbolical 
of  the  whole  aim  and  spirit  of  Christ's  ministry 
we  will  perceive  that  a  real  imitation  of  Him 
in  this  respect  means  that  our  lives,  as  a  whole, 
ought  to  be  devoted  to  the  service  of  others 
and  so  spent  in  the  spirit  of  Him  who  came 
not  to  be  ministered  unto  but  to  minister. 

We  need  to  keep  clearly  before  us,  in  the 
second  place,  the  fact  that  our  obligation  to 


Jesus  as  Our  Example  99 

imitate  Jesus  is  to  be  interpreted  in  the  light 
of  the  fact  that  our  individuality  is  determina- 
tive of  our  duty.  Permit  me  to  make  clear 
what  I  mean  by  this  inasmuch  as  it  carries  with 
it  the  notion  that  there  are  some  respects  in 
which  it  is  not  to  be  supposed  that  we  are  under 
obligation  to  imitate  Jesus.  By  my  individual- 
ity I  mean  that  which  distinguishes  me  from 
you.  No  two  of  us  are  exactly  alike  either  as 
regards  our  opportunities  or  as  regards  our 
natural  or  acquired  abilities.  As  a  result  no 
two  of  us  have  exactly  the  same  duties  to  per- 
form. Your  duties  are  not  the  same  as  John 
Smith's,  any  more  than  John  Smith's  are  the 
same  as  yours  and  that  because  your  individual- 
ities differ.  It  is  evident,  therefore,  that  we 
ought  not  to  imitate  one  of  our  fellows  in  the 
sense  of  doing  just  as  He  does.  It  is  equally 
true,  however,  that  this  holds  good  as  regards 
our  obligation  to  imitate  Jesus  Christ.  In  as 
far  as  He  differed  from  us  by  nature  and  en- 
dowments and  in  as  far  as  His  mission  in  this 
world  differed  from  ours — to  that  extent  we  are 
under  no  obligation  to  imitate  Him.  Jesus  was 
divine ;  we  are  not.  Jesus  came  to  redeem  this 
world ;  that  is  not  one  of  our  functions.  Jesus 
spoke  with  authority;  we  have  no  right  to  as- 
sume the  same  tone.    Jesus  demanded  that  men 


ioo  Jesus  as  He  Was  and  Is 

obey  Him  as  Lord  and  that  they  worship  Him 
as  God ;  it  would  be  blasphemous  for  us  to  make 
the  same  demands.  All  this  goes  to  show  that 
as  regards  much  of  His  life  it  is  absurd  to  sup- 
pose that  we  can  imitate  Him.  Strictly  speak- 
ing, it  is  not  ever  proper  to  ask — What  would 
Jesus  do  if  He  was  in  our  situation  1  The  ques- 
tion that  each  one  of  us  should  put  is  rather 
this — What  ought  I,  located  as  I  am,  in  view  of 
my  gifts  and  opportunities,  what  ought  I  to  do 
in  order  that  I  may  exemplify  in  my  life  the 
principles  that  Jesus  exemplified  in  His  life  ? 

If  we  keep  a  firm  hold  on  these  two  thoughts, 
vis. :  that  our  imitation  of  Jesus  should  be  ac- 
cording to  the  spirit  rather  than  according  to 
the  letter,  and  that  our  obligation  to  imitate 
Jesus  is  to  be  interpreted  in  the  light  of  the 
fact  that  duty  is  individual  and  so  not  the  same 
for  any  two  persons,  I  think  that  we  will  not 
only  be  kept  from  seriously  misinterpreting  our 
duty  at  this  point  but  perceive  at  the  same  time 
that  the  imitation  of  Jesus  is  not  so  imprac- 
ticable a  thing  as  is  sometimes  supposed. 

Thus  far  I  have  assumed  that  in  Jesus  we 
have  an  adequate  model  for  us  and  for  all  men, 
that  only  as  that  model  is,  in  a  living  manner, 
reproduced  in  our  own  lives  can  we  be  said  to  be 
and  do  what  we  ought  to  be  and  do.     I  sup- 


Jesus  as  Our  Example  101 

pose  that  this  notion  is  shared  by  most,  if  not 
by  all,  of  those  before  me.  It  must  be  con- 
fessed, however,  that  there  are  those  who  take 
issue  with  us  on  this  point  and  who  maintain 
that  the  highest  type  of  man  is  other  than  was 
Jesus  Christ  and  hence  that  we  ought  not  to 
take  Him  as  our  model. 

It  ought  not,  indeed,  to  surprise  us  that  there 
should  be  an  increasing  number  in  these  days 
who  deny  the  sinlessness  of  Jesus  Christ.  It 
would  be  strange  if  it  were  otherwise  in  view 
of  some  of  the  tendencies  of  our  age.  Nothing 
more  miraculous  has  been  reported  in  connec- 
tion with  Jesus  than  His  sinlessness.  Such  a 
fact  refuses  as  absolutely  to  fit  into  a  natural- 
istic scheme  of  evolution  as  does  His  resurrec- 
tion from  the  dead.  Either,  therefore,  Jesus 
was  not  sinless  or  Naturalism  affords  an  inade- 
quate account  of  this  world's  phenomena.  It  is 
only  a  lack  of  consistency,  therefore,  or  shall  we 
say  of  courage,  that  accounts  for  the  fact  that 
there  are  any,  among  those  who  accept  Natural- 
ism as  the  ultimate  word  in  philosophy  and  sci- 
ence, who  admit  the  sinlessness  of  Jesus. 

We  are  concerned  just  now,  however,  not  so 
much  with  those  who  deny  the  utter  sinlessness 
of  Jesus  as  with  those  who  reject  Him  as  their 
moral  ideal.    We  cannot,  indeed,  question  the 


102  Jesus  as  He  Was  and  Is 

sinlessness  of  Jesus  and  still  assign  Him  the 
place  He  holds  in  the  Christian  religion,  but, 
of  course,  we  can  question  His  sinlessness  and 
still  maintain  that  He  is  the  fairest  and  noblest 
of  the  children  of  men.  At  least  men  have  so 
held,  and  while  such  a  theory  may  fit  the  facts 
very  poorly  no  such  inherent  contradiction  is 
involved  as  in  the  case  of  those  just  mentioned. 
Not  even  this  much,  however,  is  allowed  by  all. 
There  are  not  lacking  those  who  deny  that  Jesus 
is  fitted  to  serve  as  a  moral  ideal  for  the  mod- 
ern world. 

In  most  cases,  no  doubt,  this  rejection  of 
Jesus  as  a  moral  ideal  is  rooted  in  a  misunder- 
standing. There  are  those  who  have  been  led 
to  suppose  that  Jesus  was  an  ascetic,  one  who 
looked  upon  the  joys  and  activities  of  this 
world  as  evil  in  themselves,  and  hence  as  things 
to  be  shunned.  And  because  such  a  life  does 
not  appeal  to  them,  because  they  are  convinced 
that  it  is  both  their  duty  and  their  privilege  to 
take  an  active  interest  in  art,  literature,  society, 
business,  politics  and  such  like,  they  have  been 
led  to  suppose  that  Jesus  was  not  the  sort  of 
man  they  ought  to  be.  It  is  evident  that  these 
have  been  misled.  Jesus  was  not  the  sort  of 
man  that  they  suppose.  There  was  indeed  an 
ascetic  element  in  His  character  as  there  is  in 


Jesus  as  Our  Example  103 

every  noble  character  but  He  was  far  from 
being  an  ascetic.  To  Him,  with  all  its  sin,  this 
world  was  but  one  room  in  the  Father's  house, 
and  what  He  desired  for  His  disciples  was  not 
that  they  should  be  taken  out  of  the  world  but 
only  that  they  should  be  kept  from  the  evil  that 
is  in  the  world.  The  example  of  Jesus  calls 
not  for  separation  from  the  world  but  only  from 
that  which  is  evil  in  the  world. 

Or  again  there  are  those  who  have  been  led 
to  suppose  that  Jesus  was  too  negative,  not 
sufficiently  positive,  to  afford  an  adequate  model 
for  the  modern  man.  They  have  been  led  to 
see  in  Jesus  a  sort  of  goody-goody,  one,  who 
while  markedly  innocent  of  evil,  was  lacking  in 
strength  and  ruggedness  of  character.  And 
because  that  sort  of  man  does  not  appeal  to 
them,  they  too  have  been  led  to  suppose  that 
Jesus  was  not  the  sort  of  man  they  ought  to  be. 
I  can  only  wonder  whether  these  have  ever 
read  the  New  Testament.  Certainly  that  is 
not  the  impression  Jesus  made  on  the  early 
disciples.  It  is  true  that  they  were  impressed 
by  His  sinlessness,  but  it  is  even  more  true 
that  they  were  impressed  by  the  force  and 
virility  of  His  character.  Have  you  never 
noticed  how  frequently  the  words  "power"  and 
"authority"  are  used  in  connection  with  Jesus 


104  Jesus  as  He  Was  and  Is 

by  the  early  disciples?  Would  such  words  have 
been  employed  so  frequently  if  Jesus  had  been 
lacking  in  force  of  character?  Moreover,  we  may 
be  sure  that  if  Jesus  had  been  a  weakling  He 
would  never  have  become  the  dominating  in- 
fluence in  the  life  of  our  Western  world.  With 
what  warrant  can  we  speak  of  Him  as  lacking 
in  force  of  character,  of  whom  Jean  Paul  Rich- 
ter  could  truthfully  say,  "With  His  pierced 
hand  He  lifted  empires  off  their  hinges,  turned 
the  stream  of  centuries  out  of  its  channels  and 
by  His  spirit  still  governs  the  ages."  I  am 
sure  we  cannot  read  the  Gospels  with  care 
and  insight  without  agreeing  with  Prof.  Francis 
G.  Peabody  when  he  writes : ' '  Jesus  is  no  gentle 
visionary,  no  contemplative  saint,  no  Lamb  of 
God,  except  in  the  experience  of  suffering;  He 
is  a  Person  whose  dominating  trait  is  force,  the 
scourger  of  the  traders,  the  defier  of  the  Phari- 
sees, the  commanding  Personality  whose  words 
are  with  the  authority  of  power.  Women,  it 
is  true,  were  drawn  with  peculiar  loyalty  to 
the  service  of  Jesus,  and  it  has  been  inferred 
from  such  feminine  devotion  that  the  character 
of  Jesus  must  have  had  in  it  more  of  the 
womanly  than  the  masculine.  Quite  the  con- 
trary inference  would  be  indicated  by  the  ordi- 
nary relationships  between  women  and  men.  It 


Jesus  as  Our  Example  105 

is  not  feminine  traits  in  men  that  attract 
women,  but  masculine  qualities  of  force,  initia- 
tive, and  leadership.  Gracious  consideration 
for  women  marked  indeed  the  thought  of  Jesus, 
from  the  time  when  He  went  down  to  Nazareth 
and  was  subject  to  his  mother,  to  the  day  when 
he  commended  his  mother  to  the  disciple  whom 
he  loved;  but  for  softness  and  sentimentality, 
such  as  characterizes  the  feminine  man,  there 
was  no  room  in  his  rugged,  nomadic,  homeless 
life."  (Jesus  Christ  and  the  Christian  Charac- 
ter, pages  53-54.) 

No  doubt  there  are  those  whose  rejection  of 
Jesus  as  a  moral  ideal  does  not  rest  on  misun- 
derstanding. Their  rejection  is  based  on  a  posi- 
tive lack  of  sympathy  with  the  Christian  ideal. 
It  may  seem  to  us  that  to  know  Jesus  is  to 
admire  Him,  but  that  does  not  always  prove 
true.  Humility  and  self-sacrifice  and  forgive- 
ness, even  when  combined  with  strength  and 
courage  and  fidelity  to  duty,  do  not  appeal  to 
all.  I  suppose  that  there  is  an  element  of  mis- 
understanding in  every  rejection  of  Jesus  as  a 
moral  ideal,  and  yet  unquestionably  there  is  a 
rejection  of  Jesus  that  is  too  fundamental  to 
rest  on  mere  misunderstanding.  Witness,  for 
instance,  that  of  Nietzsche  and  his  followers. 
There  are  those,  moreover,  who  never  heard  of 


106  Jesus  as  He  Was  and  Is 

Nietzsche  whose  attitude  toward  Jesus  finds  its 
explanation  in  the  words  of  John's  Gospel, 
"The  light  is  come  into  the  world  and  men 
loved  the  darkness  rather  than  the  light. ' '  For 
the  most  part,  however,  I  am  sure  that  where 
we  find  men  rejecting  Jesus  as  an  adequate 
model  of  what  they  should  be  and  do,  it  is  be- 
cause they  do  not  conceive  of  Jesus  as  He  really 
was. 

Let  me  remind  you,  in  concluding,  that  in  this 
demand  that  we  be  like  Christ  we  have  a  proph- 
ecy of  the  time  when  we  shall  be  like  Him. 
No  doubt  if  we  saw  in  Jesus  only  our  example 
we  would  not  have  the  courage  to  believe  that 
this  prophecy  would  ever  be  realized  in  our- 
selves. Then  as  we  looked  upon  Him  and  saw 
His  perfection  we  could  but  cry  out  that  the 
example  is  too  high  for  us,  that  we  cannot  at- 
tain unto  it.  Because  He  is  our  life  as  well  as 
our  example,  however,  we  have  the  courage  to 
make  our  own  the  words  of  John  and  say, ' '  Now 
are  we  the  children  of  God  and  it  is  not  yet 
made  manifest  what  we  shall  be.  We  know  that 
if  He  shall  be  manifested,  we  shall  be  like  Him. ' ' 
There  is  perhaps  but  little  in  our  lives  now 
that  suggests  Jesus  Christ;  none  the  less  the 
day  is  coming  when  we  shall  be  like  Him.    To 


Jesus  as  Our  Example  107 

doubt  this  is  to  doubt  Him  "who  gave  himself 
for  us  that  He  might  redeem  us  from  all  iniquity 
and  purify  unto  himself  a  people  for  His  own 
possession,  zealous  of  good  works." 


CHAPTER   SIX:  JESUS   AS   A 
PREACHER 


And  it  came  to  pass,  when  Jesus  had  finished  these  words, 
the  multitudes  were  astonished  at  his  teaching:  for  he  taught 
them  as  one  having  authority  and  not  as  their  scribes. 

—Matthew  vii:  28,  29. 


VI 

JESUS  AS  A  PREACHER 

1AM  going  to  speak  this  afternoon  concern- 
ing Jesus  as  a  Preacher.  Much  of  His 
activity  on  earth  was  spent  in  this  role. 
From  the  very  beginning  to  the  very  close  of 
His  ministry  we  find  Him  preaching  and  teach- 
ing. At  times  we  find  Him  preaching  in  the 
synagogues.  More  frequently  we  find  Him 
preaching  in  the  open  air,  in  the  streets,  on 
some  mountain  slope,  from  a  boat  on  the  lake 
■ — or  in  some  private  house.  Again,  at  times, 
we  find  Him  preaching  to  large  crowds  and  so 
acting  the  role  of  a  popular  preacher.  More 
frequently,  however,  we  find  Him  speaking  to 
smaller  groups,  to  His  immediate  disciples,  to 
those  who  led  the  opposition  against  Him,  or 
even  to  individuals  as  in  the  case  of  Nicodemus 
and  the  woman  of  Samaria. 

Moreover,  as  a  preacher,  Jesus  was  a  great 
success — if  success  in  this  role  is  to  be  meas- 
ured by  the  attention  one  receives.    No  doubt 

III 


H2  Jesus  as  He  Was  and  Is 

in  the  case  of  Jesus  it  is  difficult  to  say  just 
how  much  of  the  attention  He  attracted  was 
due  to  His  preaching  and  how  much  to  the  mir- 
acles He  wrought;  but  unquestionably  His 
preaching  was  of  a  sort  .to  attract  attention 
apart  from  any  exhibition  of  miraculous  power. 
There  was  that  about  the  man  himself  that 
caught  and  held  the  attention  of  men.  He  spoke 
by  virtue  of  that  which  He  was.  Moreover, 
there  was  a  freshness,  a  directness,  a  simplicity, 
an  earnestness  about  His  speech  that  secured 
attention  no  less  than  the  importance  of  what 
He  said.  We  do  not  find,  however,  that  Jesus 
attached  any  special  significance  to  His  popu- 
larity as  a  preacher.  He  perceived  that  most 
of  those  who  thronged  Him  took  but  a  super- 
ficial interest  in  Him  and  His  work,  and  so,  as 
His  ministry  advanced,  we  find  Him  placing  less 
and  less  emphasis  upon  His  work  with  the  mul- 
titude and  more  and  more  upon  His  work  with 
His  more  immediate  disciples.  None  the  less 
from  first  to  last  He  remained  a  preacher,  i.  e., 
one  who  placed  his  dependence  on  oral  instruc- 
tion. He  never  became  an  author  and  thus  en- 
deavored to  give  permanence  to  His  thoughts 
by  committing  them  to  writing.  Had  His  dis- 
ciples not  treasured  up  His  utterances  they 
would  long  ago  have  passed  into  that  oblivion 


Jesus  as  a  Preacher  113 

that  is  the  fate  of  all  merely  spoken  words.  As 
it  is  we,  of  course,  have  nothing  like  a  com- 
plete report  of  His  utterances,  though  no  doubt 
we  may  well  believe  that  the  Gospels  contain 
the  essence,  as  it  were,  the  gist  of  that  which 
He  said.  All  the  words  of  Jesus  that  we  pos- 
sess, if  separated  from  the  narrative  that  they 
accompany,  could  be  printed  on  a  few  pages  and 
read  in  an  hour;  and  yet  insignificant  as  they 
are  as  regards  number  they  have  proven  to  be 
the  most  living,  the  most  potent,  the  most  far- 
reaching  in  their  influence  of  all  the  words  that 
have  ever  been  spoken. 

When  we  consider  the  large  place  that  preach- 
ing and  teaching  occupied  in  the  life  of  Jesus ; 
and  when  we  consider,  moreover,  that  He  com- 
manded His  disciples  to  go  and  preach,  we  can- 
not fail  to  see  how  little  warrant  there  is  for 
supposing  that  Christianity  disparages  the  in- 
tellect. If  Jesus  had  cherished  any  doubts  as 
to  the  essential  rationality  of  that  which  He 
stood  for,  we  may  be  sure  He  would  not  have 
placed  so  much  emphasis  on  preaching,  on  that 
which  in  the  nature  of  the  case  is  effective  only 
as  it  appeals  to  the  reason  and  intelligence  of 
men.  If  Jesus  and  His  disciples  had  placed  the 
emphasis  on  matters  of  ritual  and  ceremony; 
if  they  had  manifested  more  interest  in  sym- 


114  Jesus  as  He  Was  and  Is 

bolism  than  in  knowledge,  we  might  be  war- 
ranted in  saying  that  they  made  their  appeal 
to  the  emotions  rather  than  the  intellect:  but 
when  we  note  that  they  ever  place  the  emphasis 
on  preaching  and  teaching,  and  when  we  note 
that  they  call  upon  their  hearers  to  judge  for 
themselves  as  to  the  truth  of  what  they  said 
— witness  the  Master's  words,  ''And  why  even 
of  yourselves  judge  ye  not  that  which  is  right?" 
as  well  as  Paul's  words,  "I  speak  as  to  wise 
men ;  judge  ye  what  I  say. ' ' — it  is  evident  that 
they  made  their  appeal  primarily  to  the  intel- 
lect. We  are  not,  indeed,  to  suppose  that  they 
were  intellectualists  in  the  sense  that  they  sup- 
posed that  ignorance  is  at  the  root  of  all  our 
troubles  and  that  men  stand  in  need  of  nothing 
except  knowledge.  They  were  well  aware  that 
men  need  more  than  knowledge,  that  above  all 
they  need  a  Saviour  both  from  the  guilt  and  the 
power  of  sin.  They  perceived  also  that  rational 
assent  does  not  make  a  man  a  Christian,  and 
yet  they  did  not  suppose  that  reasonable  beings 
would  embrace  Christianity  as  long  as  they 
withheld  their  rational  assent.  ' '  Believe  on  the 
Lord  Jesus  Christ  and  thou  shalt  be  saved," 
said  the  apostle;  but  he  did  not  suppose  that 
reasonable  beings  would  put  their  trust  in 
Jesus  unless  they  had   adequate  reasons  for 


Jesus  as  a  Preacher  115 

supposing  that  Jesus  was  worthy  of  their  trust 
and  able  to  save  those  who  put  their  trust  in 
Him. 

We  are  not  to  suppose,  therefore,  that  the 
emphasis  that  Christ  and  His  Apostles  placed 
on  faith  involved  any  mistrust  of  the  reason: 
rather  we  should  suppose  that  the  fact  that  we 
are  saved  by  faith  implies  that  we  should  be 
addressed  as  rational  beings.  No  doubt  faith 
and  knowledge  are  frequently  contrasted  as 
though  what  we  knew  we  did  not  believe  and 
what  we  believed  we  did  not  know.  Such  a  con- 
trast, however,  is  wholly  unwarranted.  So  far 
is  it  from  being  true  that  knowledge  is  the  con- 
trary of  faith  that  it  is  rather  true  that  it  is  the 
correlative  of  faith.  Christlieb's  dictum  is 
wholly  true:  "He  who  believes  nothing  knows 
nothing. ' '  I  cannot  even  have  knowledge  of  my 
own  existence  without  the  exercise  of  faith.  The 
fallacy  in  Descartes'  famous  argument, "I  know 
therefore  I  am,"  has  often  been  pointed  out. 
When  I  say  liI  know"  I  have  already  assumed 
the  existence  of  what  I  am  trying  to  prove, 
viz. :  my  own  existence.  It  is  equally  true  that 
I  can  have  no  knowledge  of  others  unless  I  ex- 
ercise faith.  I  do  not  even  know  of  the  presence 
of  this  audience  save  as  I  believe  that  my  fac- 
ulty of  sight  conveys  to  me  a  correct  representa- 


116  Jesus  as  He  Was  and  Is 

tion  of  what  exists  outside  of  me.  Moreover,  I 
can  reason,  I  can  draw  conclusion,  from  what  I 
observe,  only  as  I  exercise  faith.  Because  under- 
lying all  reasoning,  all  inference,  are  certain 
axioms,  such  as  every  effect  must  have  a  cause. 
I  cannot  prove  these  axioms;  I  can  only  take 
them  on  faith ;  and  yet  unless  I  do,  I  cannot  rea- 
son or  draw  conclusions  at  all.  It  goes  without 
saying,  therefore,  that  I  can  have  no  knowl- 
edge of  what  I  have  not  observed  unless  I  exer- 
cise faith.  For  here  I  am  dependent  upon  the 
testimony  of  others.  Unless  I  believe  what  trav- 
elers tell  me,  and  unless  I  believe  what  others 
have  written  in  the  past,  I  can  have  no  knowl- 
edge of  the  world  as  a  whole,  as  it  exists  to-day, 
or  as  it  has  existed  in  the  past.  Is  it  not  evident, 
then,  that  faith  underlies  all  knowledge  and  that 
he  who  seeks  to  eliminate  faith  from  his  mental 
processes  is  but  emulating  the  wisdom  of  the 
man  who  saws  off  the  limb  upon  which  he  him- 
self is  sitting?  The  difference  between  men  is 
not  that  some  believe  while  others  do  not.  All 
men  believe.  The  difference  lies  in  what  men 
believe.  The  Christian,  for  instance,  believes 
one  thing;  the  non-Christian  believes  another 
thing.  The  question  that  is  constantly  at  issue 
has  to  do  with  the  question  whether  the  Chris- 
tian or  the  non-Christian  is  justified  in  believ- 


Jesus  as  a  Preacher  ilj 

ing  as  lie  does.  All  Christianity  asks  for,  from 
this  point  of  view,  is  a  fair  hearing  and  a  just 
verdict.  Otherwise  ignorance  is  the  mother  of 
Christian  devotion  and  Christian  churches  asy- 
lums for  the  feeble-minded.  The  first  charge 
we  bring  against  the  non-Christian  is  that  he 
is  irrational.  We  believe  in  Christ  because 
it  is  the  only  rational  thing  to  do. 

I  have  pointed  out  the  large  place  that  preach- 
ing and  teaching  occupied  in  the  life  of  Jesus. 
It  is  scarcely  possible  for  us  to  overestimate 
the  value  of  His  teaching,  and  yet  we  are  not 
to  suppose  that  the  chief  value  of  Christianity 
lies  in  the  teaching  of  Jesus.  The  value  of 
Christianity  hinges  not  so  much  on  what  Jesus 
said  as  upon  what  He  was  and  did.  Were  it 
not  for  what  He  said  we  would,  indeed,  be 
walking  in  moral  and  spiritual  darkness,  and 
yet  what  would  the  moral  and  spiritual  illumi- 
nation that  has  its  source  in  Jesus  profit  us 
were  it  not  for  that  which  He  did  in  our  be- 
half as  well  as  that  which  He  is  unto  us  f  Jesus 
is  indeed  our  teacher,  beyond  compare,  but  His 
chief  value  lies  in  the  fact  that  He  is  our  Sav- 
iour from  the  guilt  and  power  of  sin.  More- 
over, valuable  as  is  the  teaching  of  Jesus,  if  it 
stood  alone  we  would  be  at  a  loss  to  account 
for  the  rise  and  influence  of  the  Christian  re- 


Ii8  Jesus  as  He  Was  and  Is 

ligion.  As  Prof.  Fairbairn  said :  "If  anything 
is  certain,  it  is  this :  the  teaching  of  Jesus,  how- 
ever its  qualities  may  be  described  or  appraised, 
can  never  by  itself  explain  the  power  of  Christ, 
the  reign,  the  diffusion,  the  continuance,  and 
the  achievements  of  the  Christian  religion.  And 
these  are  the  things  which  stand  in  need  of  ex- 
planation; not  simply  what  Jesus  thought  and 
why  He  thought  but  why  men  came  to  think 
concerning  Him  as  to  create  the  religion  which 
bears  His  name."  {The  Philosophy  of  the 
Christian  Religion,  p.  304.)  To  account  for  the 
rise  and  influence  of  the  Christian  religion  we 
must  not,  of  course,  neglect  the  teaching  of 
Jesus,  but  we  must  throw  the  emphasis  upon 
the  sovereign  personality  who  gave  expression 
to  these  utterances  and  the  saving  work  which 
He  came  to  do.  It  was  that  which  Jesus  did 
rather  than  that  which  Jesus  said  that  attached, 
and  that  still  attaches,  men  to  Him  with  a  bond 
stronger  than  death.  Moreover  Jesus  is  not 
simply  one  of  "Those  dead  but  sceptered  Sov- 
ereigns who  still  rule  our  spirits  from  their 
urns. ' '  He  not  only  was,  He  is ;  and  we  can  ac- 
count for  the  rise  and  influence  of  the  Christian 
religion  only  as  we  recognize  that  His  sovereign 
personality  has  been  energizing  in  the  life  of 
our  world  through  all  the  Christian  centuries. 


Jesus  as  a  Preacher  119 

In  this  connection  it  may  be  well  to  say  a 
word  concerning  Christ's  originality  as  a 
teacher.  Some  have  thought  it  necessary  to 
maintain  that  He  was  wholly  original  in  His 
teaching  in  the  sense  that  no  real  parallels  to 
His  utterances  can  be  found  among  the  teach- 
ers that  preceded  Him.  Such  a  position  is 
untenable.  Unquestionably  there  was  much 
that  was  new  in  the  teachings  of  Jesus.  It  was 
not  without  cause  that  the  people  questioned 
among  themselves,  saying,  "What  is  this?  a 
new  teaching!"  and  yet  this  is  not  to  be  inter- 
preted as  meaning  that  all  His  teaching  was 
new.  Jesus  never  claimed  that  He  was  wholly 
novel  in  His  teaching.  To  Him  the  Old  Testa- 
ment contained  an  authoritative  revelation  of 
God's  will  of  which  not  one  jot  or  tittle  would 
fail  of  realization.  It  was  to  be  expected,  there- 
fore, that  there  would  be  a  close  similarity,  in 
many  respects,  between  the  teaching  of  Jesus 
and  the  teaching  of  the  Old  Testament.  It 
was  to  be  expected,  also,  that  there  would  be 
notable  resemblances  between  the  teaching  of 
Jesus  and  the  teaching  of  the  Jewish  rabbis  as 
these  drew  their  thoughts  in  large  degree  from 
the  well  of  Old  Testament  truth.  Not  only 
that,  there  is  nothing  surprising  in  the  fact 
that  parallels  to  many  of  Christ's  most  charac- 


120  Jesus  as  He  Was  and  Is 

teristic  utterances  are  to  be  found  in  the  teach- 
ings of  Buddha,  Confucius  and  others.  If 
Jesus  was,  as  we  believe,  not  only  the  Son  of 
that  God  who  created  and  who  watches  over 
all  the  peoples  of  the  earth,  but  also  the  uni- 
versal man — the  one  man  to  whom  there  at- 
taches none  of  the  limitations  of  race  or  age — 
ought  we  not  to  look  for  a  close  resemblance 
between  His  utterances  and  the  best  and  noblest 
to  which  others  have  given  expressions'? 

We  are  not  to  suppose,  then,  that  Jesus  was 
wholly  new  in  all  His  utterances  or  that  the 
value  of  His  teaching  hinges  in  any  way  on  its 
dissimilarity  with  the  utterances  of  others. 
Jesus  was  unique  as  a  teacher  not  so  much  be- 
cause of  His  originality  as  because  of  His  total 
avoidance  of  all  that  is  trivial  or  erroneous. 
Others  taught  much  truth,  but  with  them  the 
truth  is  mixed  with  much  that  is  trivial  and 
erroneous.  In  Jesus,  however,  we  not  only  have 
the  truth ;  we  have  nothing  but  the  truth. 

I  have  yet  to  mention  the  most  significant 
fact  in  connection  with  the  teaching  of  Jesus. 
I  refer  to  the  authority  with  which  He  spoke. 
It  was  this  that  first  of  all  impressed  His 
hearers.  "The  multitudes — we  read — were 
astonished  at  His  teaching,  for  He  taught  them 
as  one  having  authority  and  not  as  the  scribes. ' ' 


Jesus  as  a  Preacher  121 

They  were  not  especially  impressed  by  the  ap- 
peal He  made  to  their  reason  because  in  this 
He  only  did  what  their  own  teachers — what  in 
fact  all  teachers — do.  They  were  more  im- 
pressed by  the  originality  of  His  teaching  be- 
cause much  that  He  said  sounded  strange  and 
unusual,  and  yet  what  He  said  was  not  wholly 
different  from  what  their  own  teachers  had  told 
them.  That  which  impressed  them  most  of  all 
was  the  authority  with  which  He  spoke,  because 
in  this  respect  He  stood  in  such  striking  con- 
trast to  the  scribes  and  pharisees.  The  scribes 
and  the  pharisees  were  constantly  citing  the 
opinions  of  others  in  support  of  their  state- 
ments. Jesus  spoke  as  One  who  is  himself  the 
source  of  truth,  as  One  who  has  an  intuitive 
grasp  on  the  kingdom  of  truth,  so  that  He  does 
not  hesitate  to  say:  "Heaven  and  earth  shall 
pass  away,  but  my  words  shall  not  pass  away." 
Now  we  may  ask  in  all  reverence — what  right 
had  Jesus  to  speak  in  this  authoritative  tone 
not  only  to  the  men  of  His  own  age  but  for  the 
men  of  all  ages?  Why  should  we  regard  any- 
thing as  true  simply  because  He  said  it  was 
true?  Why  may  we  not  demand  of  Him  just 
as  we  demand  of  every  other,  that  He,  in  every 
instance,  support  His  statements  with  argu- 
ments in  order  that  we  may  be  in  a  position  to 


122  Jesus  as  He  Was  and  Is 

decide  for  ourselves  whether  we  agree  with 
Him?  Jesus,  for  example,  laid  down  certain 
regulations  in  regard  to  marriage  and  divorce. 
There  are  many  who  do  not  agree  with  Him  on 
these  matters ;  and  moreover  they  support  their 
positions  with  a  wealth  of  learning  that  is  quite 
lacking  in  the  teaching  of  Jesus.  Why,  it  may 
be  asked,  should  we  accept  the  view  of  Jesus 
on  these  matters  rather  than  that  of  not  a  few 
learned  scholars?  I  reply  that  our  answer  to 
this  question — and  questions  such  as  this — 
turns  and  ever  must  turn  upon  our  conception  of 
His  personality.  If  Jesus  was  a  man  and  noth- 
ing but  a  man,  if  He  did  not  differ  essentially 
from  the  rest  of  us,  then  I  am  ready  to  confess 
that  nothing  that  He  said  is  binding  on  my 
conscience ;  and  that  I  am  not  under  obligation 
to  accept  anything  as  true  simply  because  He 
said  it  was  true.  In  that  case  I  would  no 
doubt  be  warranted  in  classing  Jesus  with 
Buddha,  Confucius,  Plato,  Emerson  and  others, 
i.  e.,  as  one  of  earth's  wisest  and  most  influen- 
tial teachers ;  but  I  would  not  be  warranted  in 
supposing  that  His  teaching  is  free  from  the 
alloy  of  error.  If,  however,  Jesus  was  the  per- 
son He  claimed  to  be  and  that  the  Church  as 
a  whole  believes  Him  to  be,  viz.:  the  Word  in- 
carnate, then  He  is  One  whose  rank  in  the  scale 


Jesus  as  a  Preacher  123 

of  being  gives  Him  a  right  to  speak  to  us  in 
this  authoritative  tone,  and  we  are  only  show- 
ing ordinary  common  sense  when  as  we  stand 
in  His  presence  we  say,  "Thy  word  is  truth 
and  the  opening  of  Thy  lips  to  me  is  wisdom. ' ' 

No  doubt  there  are  those  who  hold  it  unrea- 
sonable to  accept  anything  as  true  simply  on  the 
authority  of  another.  It  is  difficult,  however, 
to  see  the  force  of  this  contention.  Surely  it 
is  reasonable  that  we  should  adjust  ourselves 
to  what  actually  is.  If  Jesus  merely  presumes 
to  exercise  an  authority  that  does  not  rightly 
belong  to  Him,  then,  of  course,  we  ought  not  to 
attach  any  such  special  significance  to  His  ut- 
terances; but  if  He  is  really  one  who  speaks 
with  authority,  we  cannot  be  said  to  be  acting 
reasonably  if  we  deal  with  His  utterances  as  we 
do  with  the  utterances  of  others. 

In  conclusion  let  us  remind  ourselves  that  it 
is  because  of  what  Jesus  was  and  is  that  His 
words  have  a  normative  value  for  all  time. 
Jesus  being  what  He  is  we  may  be  sure  that 
His  words  will  never  be  outgrown,  that  as  the 
race  progresses  in  wisdom  it  will  not  grow 
away  from  but  toward  a  more  adequate  appre- 
ciation of  the  wisdom  embodied  in  His  words; 
and  hence  that  amid  the  jangling  and  discord- 
ant voices  of  earth's  teachers  there  is  one  voice 


124  Jesus  as  He  Was  and  Is 

that  is  always  to  be  taken  at  its  face  value,  one 
voice  tliat  amid  all  the  changes  of  time  remains 
infallible  amid  the  fallible  and  unchangeable 
amid  the  changeable. 

More  especially  let  us  remember  that  in  all 
His  utterances  Jesus  was  inspired  by  an  ethical 
and  religious  purpose.  It  will  profit  us  nothing 
to  know  the  truth  as  Jesus  proclaimed  it  un- 
less we  put  it  into  practice,  unless  we  trans- 
late it  into  conduct.  The  utterance  that  stands 
at  the  close  of  the  Sermon  on  the  Mount  is  to 
be  read  in  connection  with  all  His  utterances: 
"Every  one,  therefore,  that  heareth  these 
words  of  mine,  and  doeth  them,  shall  be  likened 
unto  a  wise  man,  who  built  his  house  upon  a 
rock:  and  the  rain  descended  and  the  floods 
came  and  the  winds  blew  and  beat  upon  that 
house ;  and  it  fell  not :  for  it  was  founded  upon 
the  rock.  And  every  one  that  heareth  these 
words  of  mine,  and  doeth  them  not,  shall  be 
likened  unto  a  foolish  man,  who  built  his  house 
upon  the  sand :  and  the  rain  descended  and  the 
floods  came,  and  the  winds  blew,  and  smote  upon 
that  house;  and  it  fell:  and  great  was  the  fall 
thereof. ' ' 


CHAPTER     SEVEN:     JESUS     AS     A 
MIRACLE  WORKER 


For  God  so  loved  the  world,  that  he  gave  his  only  begot- 
ten Son,  that  whosoever  believeth  on  him  should  not  perish, 
but  have  eternal  life.  — John  Hi:  16. 


vn 

JESUS  AS  A  MIRACLE  W0KKER 

IT  lies  upon  the  surface  of  the  New  Testa- 
ment narrative  that  miracles  played  a 
large  part  in  the  public  ministry  of  Jesus. 
It  is  true  that  only  thirty  of  forty  miracles — in- 
cluding the  miracles  of  healing — are  recorded 
in  the  Gospels.  There  is,  however,  frequent 
mention  of  general  manifestations  of  mirac- 
ulous power  so  that  the  impression  one  receives, 
as  he  reads  the  Gospels,  is  that  the  miracles 
recorded  are  but  specimens  of  the  large  number 
performed.  Just  as  we  have  nothing  like  a 
complete  record  of  our  Lord's  words,  so  we 
have  nothing  like  a  complete  record  of  His 
deeds. 

Now  it  is  this  element  in  the  life  of  Jesus  to 
which  exception  is  most  frequently  made.  There 
are  those  to  whom  it  is  axiomatic  that  miracles 
never  happened.  It  is  inevitable  that  such 
should  pass  an  unfavorable  judgment  on  the 
trustworthiness  of  the  Gospels.     Prof.  Foster 

127 


128  Jesus  as  He  Was  and  Is 

of  the  University  of  Chicago  even  goes  so  far 
as  to  say  that  a  man  cannot  be  intellectually 
honest  and  at  the  same  time  believe  in  miracles. 
Few  are  so  brutal  in  their  choice  of  expression, 
and  yet  unquestionably  we  live  in  an  age  that 
is  extremely  hostile  to  the  miraculous.  Every- 
where we  find  those  who  openly  profess  their 
disbelief  in  miracles,  those  who  apparently 
think  that  such  a  profession  is  one  of  the  hall- 
marks of  culture.  And  even  where  belief  in  the 
miraculous  is  retained,  its  significance  is  often 
minimized  as  much  as  possible.  Probably  there 
never  was  an  age  in  which  the  thinking  of  the 
more  or  less  educated  classes  was  more  deeply 
tinged  with  an  anti-miraculous  spirit  than  the 
one  in  which  we  are  living;  and  hence  never 
an  age  in  which  Christian  men  and  women  were 
more  strongly  tempted  to  surrender  their  con- 
fession at  this  point. 

As  a  result  there  have  been  many  efforts  to 
commend  to  us  a  non-miraculous  Christianity. 
These  range  all  the  way  from  the  efforts  of 
scholars  like  Pfleiderer  and  Bousset  to  novel- 
ists like  Mrs.  Humphry  Ward  in  Robert 
Elsmere,  and  Mr.  Winston  Churchill  in  The 
Inside  of  the  Cup.  No  doubt,  immersed 
as  we  are  in  an  anti-miraculous  age,  we  cannot 
but  feel  a  certain  sympathy  for  these  efforts; 


Jesus  as  a  Miracle  Worker  129 

and  yet  if  the  question  be  put,  Have  these  ef- 
forts proven  successful?  it  must  be  confessed 
that  they  have  ended  in  failure.  This  does 
not  find  its  explanation  in  the  weakness  of  their 
advocates.  Scholars  of  the  highest  rank  have 
attempted  to  discredit  miracles.  It  finds  its 
explanation  rather  in  the  fact  that  in  attempt- 
ing to  give  us  a  non-miraculous  Christianity 
they  have  been  attempting  the  impossible.  And 
that  because  as  regards  Christianity  the  choice 
is  not  between  a  miraculous  and  a  non-mirac- 
ulous Christianity,  but  between  a  miraculous 
Christianity  and  no  Christianity  at  all. 

That  as  regards  Christianity  the  choice  is 
between  a  miraculous  Christianity  and  no  Chris- 
tianity at  all  appears,  in  the  first  place,  when 
we  consider  how  inextricably  the  miraculous  is 
woven  into  the  New  Testament  narrative.  Mir- 
acles do  not  simply  occur  here  and  there ;  they 
enter  into  the  very  warp  and  woof  of  the  nar- 
rative, so  that  it  is  impossible  to  eliminate  the 
miraculous  and  leave  anything  that  is  worthy 
of  our  attention  behind.  It  is  only  necessary 
to  read  the  Gospels  and  note  how  the  miraculous 
is  everywhere  involved,  to  perceive  how  true 
this  is.  You  might  as  well  attempt  to  dig  out 
every  other  stone  in  a  stone  house  and  still  ex- 
pect the  house  to  stand  and  serve  its  purpose  as 


130  Jesus  as  He  Was  and  Is 

attempt  to  eliminate  the  miraculous  from  the 
New  Testament  narratives  and  still  expect  to 
have  a  satisfying  remainder  left. 

That  as  regards  Christianity  the  choice  is  be- 
tween a  miraculous  Christianity  and  no  Chris- 
tianity at  all  appears  most  clearly,  however, 
when  we  consider  that  we  cannot  eliminate  the 
miraculous  without  eliminating  Jesus  himself. 
Jesus  himself  is  the  greatest  of  all  miracles, 
and  yet  Jesus  stands  at  the  center  of  the  Chris- 
tian religion  and  makes  it  what  it  is.  How  is 
it  possible,  then,  to  eliminate  the  miraculous 
and  still  retain  Christianity?  You  might  as 
well  suppose  that  you  could  eliminate  the  Pope 
without  destroying  Roman  Catholicism;  in  fact 
you  might  as  well  suppose  that  you  could  elim- 
inate the  sun  from  the  heavens  without  disturb- 
ing our  solar  system  as  suppose  that  you  can 
eliminate  Jesus  Christ  from  Christianity  and 
still  suppose  that  what  is  left  behind  can  hon- 
estly be  called  Christianity.  No  doubt  we  might 
still  call  what  was  left  behind  after  Jesus  was 
eliminated  by  the  name  of  Christianity,  but  it 
would  be  something  other  than  Christianity, 
and  hence  something  that  in  common  honestly 
we  ought  to  call  by  another  name. 

We  are  not  to  imagine,  therefore,  that  mir- 
acles are  a  mere  appendage  to   Christianity. 


Jesus  as  a  Miracle  Worker  131 

Nothing  could  be  further  from  the  truth.  Mir- 
acles enter  into  the  very  substance  of  Chris- 
tianity, so  that  Christianity  without  its  miracles 
would  not  be  Christianity  at  all. 

I  would  not  be  understood,  of  course,  as  say- 
ing that  every  miracle  recorded  in  the  Scrip- 
tures is  essential  to  Christianity.  Many  of 
them  might  conceivably  be  eliminated  and 
Christianity  remain  essentially  what  it  is.  I 
would  not  be  understood,  for  instance,  as  say- 
ing that  Christianity  stands  or  falls  with  the 
question  whether  the  sun  stood  still  at  the  com- 
mand of  Joshua  or  whether  Jonah  was  swal- 
lowed by  a  whale  or  whether  Lazarus  was  raised 
from  the  dead.  These,  as  well  as  many  other 
miracles  recorded  in  the  Scriptures,  might  con- 
ceivably be  eliminated  and  Christianity  remain 
essentially  what  it  is.  What  I  would  be  under- 
stood as  saying  is  that  there  are  miracles  that 
are  essential  to  the  very  existence  of  Chris- 
tianity, miracles  the  elimination  of  which  would 
leave  Christianity  a  mass  of  crumbling  ruins. 
I  refer  especially  to  such  miracles  as  the  in- 
carnation, the  atonement  and  the  resurrection 
of  Jesus  from  the  dead.  By  no  stretch  of  the 
imagination  can  such  miracles  be  classed  as  non- 
essential. They  enter  into  the  very  substance 
of  the  Christian  religion;  they  are  vital  to  its 


132  Jesus  as  He  Was  and  Is 

very  existence.  Hence  when  we  have  such  mir- 
acles in  mind  it  is  perfectly  proper  to  say — 
Christianity  denuded  of  its  miracles  is  Chris- 
tianity extinct. 

No  doubt  we  are  constantly  told,  not  only  in 
the  writings  of  the  learned  but  also  in  the  pages 
of  our  novels,  our  magazines  and  our  news- 
papers, that  miracles  are  the  one  great  obstacle 
that  keeps  our  modern  world  from  accepting 
Christianity;  and  that  the  Church  must  preach 
a  non-miraculous  Christianity  if  it  would  win 
our  modern  world.  I  do  not  believe  that  such 
is  the  case ;  and  even  if  I  did  I  would  not  preach 
other  than  a  miraculous  Christianity;  and  that 
because  to  me  it  is  a  matter  of  comparative  in- 
difference whether  or  no  men  accept  Chris- 
tianity, unless  the  Christianity  that  they  accept 
be  a  miraculous  Christianity.  No  doubt  those 
who  commend  to  us  a  non-miraculous  Chris- 
tianity commend  to  us  much  that  is  attractive, 
much  that  is  worthy  of  our  attention,  and  yet 
the  Christianity  that  they  preach  does  not  dif- 
fer essentially  from  what  has  been  preached  or 
what  is  being  preached  under  the  auspices  of 
non-Christian  religions.  What  is  it  that  places 
Christianity  in  a  place  by  itself  among  the  re- 
ligions of  the  world,  if  not  this — that  it  brings 
us  the  knowledge  of  a  divine-human  Saviour 


Jesus  as  a  Miracle  Worker  133 

who  is  able  to  save  those  who  put  their  trust 
in  Him!  In  view  of  the  fact  that  this  divine- 
human  Saviour  is  the  greatest  of  all  miracles,  it 
is  evident  that  we  must  eviscerate  Christianity 
of  that  which  gives  it  its  unique  value  before 
we  can  present  it  in  a  non-miraculous  form. 
After  all,  it  is  only  as  we  see  in  Christianity 
the  one  religion  that  brings  us  the  knowledge 
of  a  Saviour  who  is  able  to  save  and  does  save 
those  who  put  their  trust  in  Him,  that  it  be- 
comes a  matter  of  very  great  moment  whether 
we  are  Christians  or  non-Christians.  If  we 
must  evacuate  Christianity  of  all  that  makes  it 
worth  while  before  we  can  so  preach  it  that  it 
will  commend  itself  to  our  modern  world,  then 
it  seems  to  me,  at  least,  that  one  might  be  more 
profitably  employed  than  in  the  preaching  of 
Christianity. 

Just  here  it  may  be  in  place  to  say  a  word 
concerning  the  question,  Wherein  does  the  of- 
fense of  the  miraculous  lie  1  Why  is  it  that  men 
are  so  anxious  to  eliminate  the  miraculous  from 
their  thoughts?  Many  would  have  us  believe 
that  this  hostility  to  miracles  has  its  roots  in 
the  scientific  progress  of  the  last  hundred  years 
or  so,  as  a  result  of  which  an  immovable  con- 
viction of  the  "uniformity  of  nature"  has  been 
fixed  in  men's  minds.     Now  it  is  quite  certain 


134  Jesus  as  He  Was  and  Is 

that  miracles  are  not  opposed  to  our  conviction 
of  the  " uniformity  of  nature"  in  as  far  as  that 
conviction  is  based  on  an  induction  from  facts. 
I  am  not  concerned  to  deny,  of  course,  that 
in  individual  cases  this  consideration  does 
afford  a  more  or  less  adequate  explanation 
of  their  rejection  of  miracles.  This  con- 
sideration must  not  indeed  be  overlooked  if 
we  would  explain  why  the  thinking  of  our  age 
is  so  deeply  tinged  with  an  anti-miraculous 
spirit.  Nevertheless  it  is  evident  that,  broadly 
speaking,  this  consideration  goes  but  a  short 
way  toward  accounting  for  men's  hostility  to 
miracles.  If  the  scientific  progress  of  the  last 
century  accounts  for  men's  hostility  to  the  mir- 
aculous, we  would  expect  to  find  that  through- 
out the  preceding  centuries  men  took  no  special 
offense  at  the  miracles  of  the  Bible.  We  do  not 
find,  however,  that  such  was  the  case.  The 
rationalism  of  the  eighteenth  century  did  not 
possess  our  scientific  attainments,  and  yet  it  at- 
tempted as  strenuously  as  do  the  men  of  this 
generation  to  explain  the  miracles  of  the  Bible 
as  the  result  of  " natural  causes."  Even  if  we 
go  back  much  further — to  the  New  Testament 
age  itself,  an  age  that  was  still  more  backward 
from  the  standpoint  of  modern  scientific  prog- 
ress— we  find  that  Festus  and  the  Athenians 


Jesus  as  a  Miracle  Worker  135 

were  quite  as  ready  to  discredit  the  fact  of  the 
resurrection  as  are  our  moderns;  and  that  the 
Jews,  who,  of  course,  did  not  possess  our  pres- 
ent-day conviction  of  the  "uniformity  of  na- 
ture," took  as  much  offense  at  the  miracles  of 
Jesus  as  do  the  men  of  this  age  and  generation. 
Wherein  then,  it  may  be  asked,  does  the  offense 
of  the  miraculous  really  lie?  I  am  sure  that 
the  real  offense  of  the  miracle  lies  in  the  fact 
that  it  is  an  event  that  posits  God  as  its  only 
adequate  explanation,  and  so  an  event  that 
thrusts  God,  as  it  were,  directly  on  the  attention 
of  men.  It  may  seem  strange,  but  it  is  none 
the  less  a  fact,  that  men  do  not  like  to  retain 
God  in  their  knowledge.  They  do  not  object 
to  admitting  that  God  exists  as  long  as  it  is 
confessed  that  He  acts  always  and  only  through 
general  laws;  for  in  that  case  these  "general 
laws"  stand  between  the  individual  and  God 
and  more  or  less  effectively  blunt  their  con- 
sciousness of  God  as  a  living  reality  to  whom 
they  are  personally  responsible.  They  do  ob- 
ject, however,  to  admitting  that  God  acts  in  a 
miraculous  manner ;  and  that  because  a  miracle, 
being  an  event  that  posits  the  direct  activity 
of  God  as  its  only  adequate  explanation,  ob- 
trudes God,  directly  and  immediately,  upon 
their  attention. 


136  Jesus  as  He  Was  and  Is 

If  this  be  the  true  explanation  of  the  world's 
offense  at  the  miraculous,  to  conciliate  the 
world,  it  is  not  enough  that  we  preach  a  non- 
miraculous  religion;  it  is  necessary  that  we 
preach  a  religion  that  does  not  obtrude  God  too 
directly  on  the  attention  of  men.  A  religion, 
however,  that  removes  God  to  some  distant 
sphere  or  that  permits  Him  to  act  only  in  ac- 
cordance with  general  laws,  is  a  religion  of  such 
small  significance  that  it  cannot  be  a  matter  of 
much  moment  whether  or  no  men  profess  it. 

It  would  appear,  therefore,  that  we  have 
everything  to  lose  and  nothing  to  gain  by 
preaching  a  non-miraculous  Christianity.  Even 
if  we  should  succeed  in  winning  the  world  to 
such  a  Christianity  nothing  much  would  be 
gained,  as  I  have  already  intimated;  and  yet 
there  is  joy  among  the  angels  of  heaven  when 
one  sinner  turns  from  his  sin  and  puts  his 
trust  in  that  miraculous  Christ  who  is  able  to 
save  unto  the  uttermost.  I  do  not  think,  there- 
fore, that  it  is  the  part  of  wisdom  to  attempt 
to  denude  Christianity  of  its  miracles  so  as 
to  bring  it  into  accord  with  the  prevailing  world- 
view  ;  I  think,  rather,  that  it  becomes  us,  as  best 
we  may,  to  attempt  to  bring  the  conceptions  of 
our  age  into  harmony  with  those  of  Christ  and 
His  Apostles. 


Jesus  as  a  Miracle  Worker  137 

I  have  pointed  out  the  place  that  miracles 
played  in  the  life  of  Jesus  as  well  as  the  anti- 
miraculous  character  of  the  thought-tendencies 
of  our  age  and  the  consequent  efforts  that  have 
been  made  to  give  us  a  non-miraculous  Chris- 
tianity. I  have  also  pointed  out  that  all  these 
efforts  suffer  shipwreck  on  the  fact  that  mir- 
acles enter  so  deeply  into  the  substance  of 
Christianity  that  our  only  choice  is  between  a 
miraculous  Christianity  and  no  Christianity  at 
all ;  and  hence  that  it  is  foolish  to  try  to  make 
it  acceptable  to  those  who  stumble  at  the  mir- 
aculous by  evacuating  it  of  all  that  makes  it 
worthy  of  their  attention.  In  all  that  I  have 
said  I  have  spoken,  it  needs  scarcely  be  said, 
from  the  viewpoint  of  one  who  believes  that  the 
miracles  recorded  in  the  Scriptures  actually 
took  place.  It  is  beside  my  purpose,  however, 
to  attempt  to  justify  this  belief — except  to  this 
extent.  If  it  be  true,  as  I  have  endeavored 
to  make  clear,  that  miracles  enter  into  the  very 
substance  of  Christianity,  so  that  Christianity 
without  its  miracles  would  not  be  Christianity 
at  all,  then  it  is  evident  that  the  whole  mass 
of  that  evidence  that  goes  to  prove  the  truth 
of  Christianity  is  available  at  the  same  time  to 
prove  the  reality  of  the  miraculous  in  history. 
Those  who  have  even  a  slight  acquaintance  with 


138  Jesus  as  He  Was  and  Is 

the  evidence  that  gives  us  Christianity  will  per- 
ceive the  significance  of  this  consideration. 

But  while  it  is  beside  my  purpose  to  seek  to 
justify  this  belief  in  the  miraculous  further 
than  to  direct  your  attention  to  the  considera- 
tion just  mentioned — a  consideration  whose  im- 
portance it  is  difficult  to  overestimate — yet  I  do 
want  to  say  a  word  concerning  the  alleged  pre- 
sumption against  the  miraculous  that  weighs  so 
heavily  with  many.  It  is  generally  admitted 
that  the  evidence  for  the  miraculous  is  strong, 
so  strong  that  if  it  was  advanced  in  favor  of 
an  ordinary  event  no  one  would  hesitate  to  ad- 
mit its  sufficiency.  How  could  it  be  otherwise 
when,  as  I  have  just  pointed  out,  the  whole 
mass  of  the  evidence  that  can  be  advanced  in  be- 
half of  Christianity  can  also  be  advanced  in 
favor  of  the  miraculous?  And  yet  there  are 
those  who  seem  to  think  that  the  presumption 
against  the  miraculous  is  so  overwhelming  that 
it  is  impossible  to  conceive  evidence  strong 
enough  to  warrant  belief  in  its  reality.  Is  this 
presumption  against  the  miraculous  warranted? 
I  am  sure  that  it  is  not,  and  not  only  that — I 
am  sure  that  we  need  but  look  at  the  facts  of 
life  as  a  whole  to  perceive  that  the  presump- 
tion is  really  in  favor  of  the  miraculous.  No 
doubt  if  we  confine  our  attention  exclusively  to 


Jesus  as  a  Miracle  Worker  139 

the  physical,  to  nature  in  its  narrow  sense,  we 
will  feel  that  the  presumption  against  the  mir- 
aculous is  almost  overwhelming.  I  am  sure, 
however,  that  if  we  broaden  our  outlook  so  as 
to  include  the  moral  and  spiritual  the  matter 
will  assume  a  different  aspect.  Even  then,  we 
must  keep  clearly  before  us  the  fact  that  the 
miracles  of  Christianity  are  not  isolated  prodi- 
gies for  whose  occurrence  no  good  reason  can 
be  given.  On  the  contrary  the  miracles  of 
Christianity  are  organically  united.  Taken  to- 
gether they  form  a  system  that  finds  its  center 
in  the  great  fact  of  redemption  and  so  a  sys- 
tem that  finds  its  center  in  Christ  himself.  To 
perceive  this  is  to  perceive  that  the  question 
whether  the  presumption  is  for  or  against  the 
miraculous  is  one  with  the  question  whether 
God  has  intervened  for  the  salvation  of  His 
people.  And  this  in  turn  hinges  upon  the  moral 
and  spiritual  condition  of  mankind.  If  the 
human  race  is  in  a  normal  condition,  morally 
and  spiritually,  then  no  doubt  the  presumption 
against  the  notion  that  God  has  intervened  for 
our  redemption  is  overwhelming,  for  in  that 
case  there  would  have  been  no  occasion  for  such 
an  act  on  His  part.  But  if  the  human  race  is 
in  an  abnormal  condition,  morally  and  spirit- 
ually, if  it  has  gone  wrong,  so  seriously  wrong 


140  Jesus  as  He  Was  and  Is 

that  left  to  itself  its  condition  is  hopeless,  then 
I  am  sure  that  the  presumption  is  in  favor  of 
the  view  that  God  will  put  forth  His  hand  for 
the  salvation  of  this  world,  i.  e.,  in  favor  of  the 
miraculous,  since  such  an  act  on  His  part  would, 
be,  in  the  nature  of  the  case,  miraculous. 

In  concluding  let  me  emphasize  the  fact  that 
the  question  whether  miracles  have  occurred  is 
one  with  the  question  whether  God  so  loved  this 
world  as  to  give  His  only-begotten  Son  that 
whosoever  believeth  on  Him  might  not  perish 
but  have  everlasting  life.  To  scoff  at  the  mir- 
aculous, therefore,  is  to  scoff  at  the  reality 
of  redemption.  If  miracles  never  happened,  the 
statement  of  John  iii  :16  is  a  delusion.  If  they 
have  happened,  we  may  be  sure  that  they  hap- 
pened in  connection  with  God's  redemption  of 
His  people ;  and  hence  that  the  way  is  open  for 
us  to  see  in  Jesus  our  Saviour  and  so  the  basis 
of  our  hope  both  for  time  and  for  eternity. 


CHAPTER    EIGHT:    JESUS     AS     A 
HEALER 


And  Jesus  went  about  all  the  cities  and  the  villages  *  * 
healing  all  manner  of  disease  and  all  manner  of  sickness. 

— Matthew  ix:35. 


vm 

JESUS  AS  A  HEALER 

MOST  of  the  miracles  ascribed  to  Jesus 
are  miracles  of  healing.  There  is  a 
sense  in  which  these  miracles  of  heal- 
ing may  be  spoken  of  as  non-essential.  In  say- 
ing this  I  do  not  mean  to  disparage  their  sig- 
nificance. I  merely  mean  to  say  that  they  do 
not  so  enter  into  the  substance  of  Christianity 
that  apart  from  them  we  would  have  no  Chris- 
tianity at  all,  that  conceivably  we  might  elimi- 
nate these  miracles  of  healing  and  yet  rightly 
call  what  remains  by  the  name  of  Christianity. 
It  should  not  be  supposed,  however,  that  they 
differ  in  this  respect  from  the  nature  miracles 
ascribed  to  Jesus,  such  as  the  stilling  of  the 
tempest  and  the  feeding  of  the  multitudes. 
These  also  might  be  eliminated  and  that  which 
is  most  essential  to  the  Christian  religion  still 
remain. 

It  ought  to  be  evident  to  all  that  both  the  mir- 
acles of  healing  and  the  nature  miracles  per- 

H3 


144  Jesus  as  He  Was  and  Is 

formed  by  Jesus  sustain  a  less  vital  relation 
to  the  Christian  religion  than  does  Jesus  him- 
self. This  appears  most  clearly  when  we  re- 
mind ourselves  that  the  peculiarity  of  the  Chris- 
tion  religion  lies  in  the  person  of  Jesus,  in  the 
fact  that  He  is  not  the  subject  but  the  object 
of  religion.  Unquestionably  Jesus  revealed 
himself  through  these  works  and  from  this  point 
of  view  they  are  possessed  of  abiding  signifi- 
cance. Apart  from  this,  however,  their  sig- 
nificance was  for  the  most  part  but  temporary. 
Considered  by  itself  it  is  a  matter  of  compara- 
tively small  moment  that  some  nineteen  hun- 
dred years  ago  Jesus  cured  and  fed  a  multitude 
of  people.  Even  if  He  had  not  done  that,  the 
history  of  the  world  might  have  been  essentially 
the  same  as  it  has  been.  How  different  it  is  as 
regards  those  great  miracles  that  center  in 
Jesus  himself,  such  as  the  incarnation  and  the 
atonement  and  the  resurrection !  Such  miracles 
do  not  simply  reveal  Jesus;  apart  from  them 
there  would  be  no  such  person  as  Jesus.  We 
could  not  leave  them  out  of  consideration  with- 
out leaving  Jesus  himself  out  of  consideration. 
They  are  essential  miracles,  therefore,  in  the 
strict  sense  of  the  word,  since  apart  from  them 
Christianity  is  inconceivable. 

The  modern  world  is  comparatively  friendly 


Jesus  as  a  Healer  145 

toward  the  miracles  of  healing  ascribed  to 
Jesus.  No  doubt  this  finds  its  explanation  in 
part  in  what  has  just  been  said.  It  perceives 
that  less  is  at  stake ;  that  the  acceptance  or  re- 
jection of  the  miracles  of  healing  does  not  nec- 
essarily carry  with  it  the  acceptance  or  rejec- 
tion of  the  Christian  view  of  life  and  the  world. 
This  does  not  mean,  however,  that  modern  un- 
believers admit  these  miracles  of  healing;  it 
merely  means  that  their  attack  is  so  concen- 
trated on  the  chief  citadel  as  to  make  them  more 
or  less  indifferent  to  the  outposts.  This  con- 
sideration does  not  of  itself,  therefore,  suffice 
to  explain  the  attitude  toward  these  miracles 
that  is  assumed  by  many  of  those  who  reject 
evangelical  Christianity.  Of  itself  it  only  ex- 
plains why  some  of  the  opponents  of  Christian- 
ity have  but  little  to  say  about  these  miracles 
of  healing.  It  does  not  of  itself  explain  why 
any  who  reject  evangelical  Christianity  should 
assume  a  positively  friendly  attitude  toward 
the  cures  ascribed  to  Jesus.  It  is  with  such 
that  we  are  more  especially  concerned. 

Among  those  who  reject  evangelical  Chris- 
tianity and  yet  are  friendly  toward  the  cures 
wrought  by  Jesus  are  to  be  mentioned,  in  the 
first  place,  those  who  wholly  reject  the  miracu- 
lous and  yet  are  friendly  toward  these  alleged 


146  Jesus  as  He  Was  and  Is 

cures  because  they  think  they  can  be  explained 
naturally.  These  reject  the  nature-miracles, 
such  as  the  feeding  of  the  five  thousand,  the 
stilling  of  the  tempest  and  the  raising  of  the 
dead  on  the  ground  that  they  involve  the  strict- 
ly miraculous;  but  they  accept  the  cures  as- 
cribed to  our  Lord  on  the  ground  that  they  can 
be  explained  naturally.  Bousset,  one  of  the 
leading  exponents  of  a  non-miraculous  Chris- 
tianity, affords  a  good  illustration  of  this.  Per- 
haps I  cannot  do  better,  in  this  connection,  than 
quote  his  words:  "Jesus'  method  of  healing 
may  be  called  a  psychical  one;  He  stirred  the 
forces  of  the  inner  life  so  powerfully  that  they 
reacted  upon  the  outward  bodily  life.  He 
healed  the  sick  by  His  immovable  faith  in  His 
heavenly  Father  and  the  divine  force  working 
in  Him,  and  by  awakening  in  the  maimed  and 
suffering  the  same  faith  in  Himself  as  the  mes- 
senger of  God.  Thus  His  healing  activity  lies 
entirely  within  the  bounds  of  what  is  psycholog- 
ically conceivable,  and  this  feature  of  the  life 
of  Jesus  has  nothing  absolutely  unique  about 
it.  The  history  of  religion  offers  countless 
analogies  to  it  down  to  the  most  recent  times : 
we  need  only  mention  the  cases  of  astonishing 
and  undeniable  healing  which  attended  the  pil- 
grimages   to    Lourdes,    or    the    miracle — and 


Jesus  as  a  Healer  i/\rj 

prayer  healings  of  Blumhardt  in  Bad  Boll.  In 
these  cases  modern  science  speaks  of  the  re- 
markable phenomena  of  suggestion,  auto-sug- 
gestion, and  hypnotism;  and  in  view  of  these 
analogies  it  will  at  any  rate  be  well  to  draw 
the  limits  of  the  possible  very  widely  with  re- 
gard to  our  Gospel  stories.  We  have  to  con- 
sider the  peculiarly  powerful  impression  which 
the  person  of  Jesus  was  in  a  position  to  make, 
the  almost  incalculable  force  of  the  people's 
confidence  in  this  ever-successful  doctor,  and 
the  childishness  and  naivete  of  the  population, 
which  as  yet  made  no  speculations  as  to  the 
limits  of  the  possible  and  entertained  no  sus- 
picion of  the  miraculous,  and  could  therefore 
attain  to  the  very  verge  of  what  was  possible  by 
the  mere  force  of  its  confidence."  (Jesus, 
p.  48). 

According  to  those  for  whom  Bousset  speaks 
the  deeds  of  healing  wrought  by  Jesus  do  not 
differ  essentially  from  those  that  are  wrought 
by  modern  physicians  or  in  connection  with  re- 
ligious pilgrimages.  So  interpreted  the  cures 
of  Jesus  fit  readily  into  their  naturalistic  phil- 
osophy. They  feel  perfectly  free,  therefore,  to 
say  that  miracles  do  not  happen  and  at  the 
same  time  to  admit  the  reality  of  Jesus '  cures. 

Now  I  would  ask  you  to  note,  in  the  first 


148  Jesus  as  He  Was  and  Is 

place,  that  there  is  no  real  parallel  between  the 
cnres  wrought  by  Jesus  and  those  with  whom 
these  writers  seek  to  compare  them.  No  doubt 
there  is  some  resemblance  between  them ;  but  it 
falls  far  short  of  identity.  Hence  the  recog- 
nition of  these  other  deeds  of  healing  as  coming 
within  the  possibilities  of  nature  still  leaves 
those  wrought  by  Jesus  unexplained.  Again 
even  if  this  resemblance  approached  identity — 
which  it  does  not — this  friendly  attitude  toward 
these  cures,  combined  with  a  hostile  attitude 
toward  the  nature-miracles,  could  not  be  justi- 
fied. And  that  because,  no  matter  what  critical 
view  of  the  composition  of  the  Gospels  we  may 
accept,  the  evidence  that  Jesus  wrought  cures 
is  no  stronger  than  the  evidence  that  He 
wrought  nature-miracles,  such  as  the  feeding 
of  the  five  thousand  and  the  raising  of  the 
dead.  Hence  there  is  no  warrant  on  historical 
grounds  for  accepting  the  one  while  rejecting 
the  other. 

Among  those  who  reject  evangelical  Chris- 
tianity and  yet  who  are  friendly  to  the  cures 
wrought  by  Jesus  there  remains  to  be  men- 
tioned— the  Christian  Scientists.  Some  may 
question  my  right  to  class  Christian  Scientists 
among  the  enemies  of  evangelical  Christianity, 
but  surely  a  system  that  affirms  that  the  Bible 


Jesus  as  a  Healer  149 

is  "full  of  thousands  of  errors"  but  that  Sci- 
ence and  Health  is  "truth  without  mix- 
ture of  human  error,"  that  denies  the  person- 
ality of  God  and  affirms  that  He  is  only  a  Prin- 
ciple, that  denies  the  fact  of  sin  and  so  the 
reality  of  that  atonement  that  was  wrought  by 
Jesus  Christ,  that  denies  an  actual  incarnation 
and  so  even  the  reality  of  Christ's  person, 
while  it  may  conceivably  be  something  better 
than  evangelical  Christianity  is  certainly  some- 
thing other  than  evangelical  Christianity. 
Hence  if  there  be  those  who  cling  to  both,  it  is 
only  because  they  affirm  with  one  breath  what 
they  deny  with  the  next.  They  will  no  more 
mix  than  will  oil  and  water;  and  hence  the 
logic  of  the  situation  clearly  demands  that  we 
be  one  or  the  other.  Those  who  seek  to  be 
both  are  in  a  state  of  unstable  equilibrium  from 
which  they  can  be  saved  only  by  giving  up  their 
Christian  Science,  or  by  forsaking  evangelical 
Christianity. 

There  is  no  need  of  me  reminding  you  that 
Christian  Scientists  are  friendly  toward  the 
cures  wrought  by  Jesus,  including  His  raising 
of  the  dead.  They  place  the  chief  emphasis  on 
this  phase  of  His  ministry  and  think  it  strange 
that  any  should  ascribe  to  them  a  place  of  sub- 
ordinate importance.    And  yet,  of  course,  their 


1150  Jesus  as  He  Was  and  Is 

motive  in  this  is  quite  different  from  that  of 
those  we  have  considered.  Those  whom  we 
have  considered  look  upon  this  world  with  its 
evils  and  its  diseases  and  its  deaths  as  the 
natural  order  of  things,  and  they  accept  the 
cures  of  Jesus  because  they  think  they  find  their 
place  in  this  natural  order  of  things ;  while  they 
reject  the  nature-miracles  because  they  think 
them  out  of  harmony  with  this  natural  order  of 
things.  The  Christian  Scientists,  however,  look 
upon  this  world  with  its  evils  and  diseases  and 
deaths  as  unnatural,  as  out  of  harmony  with 
the  real  order  of  things;  and  they  look  with 
such  favor  upon  the  cures  wrought  by  Jesus, 
including  His  raising  of  the  dead,  because  they 
see  in  this  the  one  element  in  His  life  that  was 
most  in  harmony  with  the  real  order  of  things. 
They  do  not  simply  mean  by  this  that  the 
natural  order  of  things  has  been  distorted,  ren- 
dered inharmonious,  through  sin's  entrance. 
Such  a  view  would  be  in  full  accord  with  the 
teaching  of  evangelical  Christianity.  What 
they  mean  is  that  this  so-called  natural  order 
of  things  has  no  real  existence  except  to  wrong 
thinking ;  and  hence  that  if  mankind  would  only 
think  rightly,  i.  e.,  in  harmony  with  the  teach- 
ings of  Mrs.  Eddy  this  so-called  natural  order 
of  things  with  its  disease  and  suffering  and 


Jesus  as  a  Healer  151 

death  would  disappear  and  the  true  order  of 
things  be  ushered  in. 

Now  while  it  may  not  be  possible  to  say  just 
what  the  therapeutic  value  of  Christian  Science 
is,  inasmuch  as  the  alleged  cures  of  organic 
diseases,  so  widely  advertised,  have  not  been 
of  a  nature  to  satisfy  us — and  still  less  the 
trained  physician — that  such  cures  have  ac- 
tually been  effected  by  Christian  Science 
methods,  yet  I  am  not  concerned  to  deny  the 
reality  of  all  the  cures  wrought  by  Christian 
Science  practitioners.  I  am  concerned  to  affirm, 
however,  that  there  is  no  real  parallel  between 
the  cures  wrought  and  the  method  employed  by 
Jesus  and  the  cures  wrought  and  the  method 
employed  by  Christian  Science  practitioners; 
and  that  no  conclusion  can  fairly  be  drawn 
from  the  reality  of  the  cures  wrought  by  Chris- 
tian Science  practitioners  to  the  truth  of  Chris- 
tian Science.  We  have  as  good  evidence  that 
cures  have  been  wrought  by  the  use  of  certain 
patent  medicines ;  and  yet  that  does  not  lead  us 
to  suppose  that  these  patent  medicines  contain 
a  specific  for  all,  or  even  for  any,  of  the  dis- 
eases mentioned  in  their  advertisements. 

Neither  am  I  concerned  to  deny  that  Chris- 
tian Science,  especially  in  its  emphasis  on 
Quietism,  teaches  that  which  our  restless,  fret- 


152  Jesus  as  He  W as  and  Is 

ful  modern  world  must  lay  to  heart  if  it  would 
know  what  peace  and  tranquillity  of  soul  really 
are.  But  I  am  concerned  to  affirm  that  the 
deepest  ground  of  tranquillity  is  to  be  found  in 
the  thought  that  we  are  beloved  of  God,  that  in 
Christ  Jesus  He  has  bestowed  upon  us  the  for- 
giveness of  our  sins  and  adopted  us  as  His 
children,  and  that  no  matter  what  befalls  us  we 
are  not  beyond  the  reach  of  His  love  and  care ; 
and  hence  that  a  true  Quietism  can  be  preached, 
and  has  been  preached,  to  better  advantage 
under  the  auspices  of  evangelical  Christianity 
than  under  the  auspices  of  Christian  Science. 

Moreover,  while  the  Christian  Scientists  are 
friendly  toward  the  cures  wrought  by  Jesus 
from  a  different  motive  from  that  which  actu- 
ates men  like  Bousset,  essentially  the  same  ob- 
jections can  be  urged  against  their  position. 
In  the  first  place,  as  I  have  said,  there  is  no 
real  parallel  between  the  cures  effected  and  the 
methods  employed  by  Christian  Science  practi- 
tioners and  the  cures  effected  and  the  methods 
employed  by  Jesus.  Hence  that  which  explains 
one  affords  us  little  or  no  assistance  in  explain- 
ing the  other.  Even  if  we  admit  the  reality 
of  the  cures  claimed  by  Christian  Scientists  we 
would  still  have  to  look  elsewhere  to  account 
for  the  cures  of  Jesus.     In  the  second  place, 


Jesus  as  a  Healer  153 

just  as  others  are  not  warranted  in  accepting 
the  cures  without  accepting  all  the  miracles  of 
Jesus  since  there  is  no  more  historical  evidence 
for  the  one  than  for  the  other ;  so  Christian  Sci- 
entists are  not  warranted  in  accepting  the  cures 
without  accepting  the  teaching  of  Jesus  on  such 
subjects  as  God  and  man  and  sin  and  redemp- 
tion because  the  wonderful  teachings  of  Jesus 
are  so  interwoven  with  the  wonderful  works 
of  Jesus  that  there  is  no  choice  between  accept- 
ing both  and  rejecting  both.  In  the  third  place, 
they  too  are  dominated  by  a  philosophy  that 
is  out  of  harmony  with  that  of  Christ  and  His 
apostles.  If  Bousset  and  others  reject  the 
strictly  miraculous  because  it  does  not  fit  into 
their  naturalistic  philosophy,  it  is  equally  true 
that  the  Christian  Scientists  reject  Christ's 
most  characteristic  teachings  because  they  do 
not  fit  in  with  their  Pantheistic  Idealism. 

So  much  for  those  who  accept  the  "mir- 
acles" of  healing  while  rejecting  evangelical 
Christianity.  From  the  standpoint  of  evan- 
gelical Christianity  no  peculiar  difficulty  at- 
taches to  these  miracles  of  healing,  even  though 
they  involved  the  strictly  miraculous,  as  most 
of  them  unquestionably  did,  if  the  Gospels  are 
trustworthy  at  all.  For  those  who  see  in  Jesus 
a  divine  being  who  came  into  this  world  on  a 


154  Jesus  as  He  Was  and  Is 

mission  of  mercy  to  sinful  men,  nothing  is  more 
natural  than  that  He  should  have  performed 
miracles  of  healing.  To  them  it  would  have 
been  surprising  if  He  had  not  performed  such 
miracles. 

Perhaps  I  should  say  a  word  as  to  the  pecu- 
liar significance  that  attaches  to  these  miracles 
of  healing.  While  we  might  be  ignorant  of  these 
miracles  and  yet  possess  that  which  is  most  vital 
to  Christianity,  ours  would  be  an  inadequate, 
truncated  sort  of  Christianity.  They  have  a 
language  of  their  own,  a  language  that  we  may 
not  wisely  neglect.  They  speak  to  us,  in  the 
first  place,  of  the  compassion  of  Jesus.  They 
tell  us,  in  the  second  place,  that  Jesus  con- 
cerned himself  about  men's  bodies  as  well  as 
men's  souls.  I  say  advisedly  men's  bodies  as 
well  as  men's  souls,  for  unquestionably  His  work 
terminated  primarily  on  men's  souls.  Witness 
the  words :  ' '  What  shall  it  profit  a  man  if  he 
gain  the  whole  world  and  lose  his  own  soul?" 
They  contain,  in  the  third  place,  a  prophecy  of 
that  which  awaits  the  people  of  God.  This 
world  is  in  an  unnatural  condition,  though  in  a 
sense  different  from  what  the  Christian  Scien- 
tists suppose.  Sin  and  disease  and  death  have 
no  rightful  place  in  this  world.  They  are  not 
part  of  the  natural,  i.  e.,  the  right  and  Divine 


Jesus  as  a  Healer  155 

order  of  tilings.  These  things,  however,  will 
never  be  eliminated  save  through  Jesus  Christ. 
These  miracles  of  healing  speak  of  the  time 
when  all  that  spells  sin  and  disease  and  death 
shall  be  eliminated  and  an  age  ushered  in  that 
knows  only  health  and  happiness  and  life. 

In  conclusion  let  me  remind  you  that  all  the 
miracles  of  Scripture  contain  a  prophecy  of  bet- 
ter things.  They  prove  that  the  power  that 
meets  us  in  nature  is  not  the  only  power,  that 
there  exists  another  and  higher  power,  a  power 
moreover  that  makes  for  righteousness.  As 
Dr.  A.  Kuyper  puts  it:  "When  the  existing 
order  of  things  distresses  us,  and  turns  us  pessi- 
mistic and  places  nature  with  its  curse  over 
against  us  and  above  us,  as  a  power  against 
which  all  resistance  is  vain,  the  miracle  pro- 
claims that  that  power  is  not  the  highest,  that 
the  heavens  of  brass  above  us  can  be  opened, 
and  that  there  is  still  another  reality,  entirely 
different  from  this  order  of  things,  which  does 
not  clash  with  our  moral  aspirations,  but  is  in 
harmony  with  them.  The  world,  such  as  it  be- 
came by  the  curse,  and  now  is,  under  the  tem- 
pering of  that  curse  by  common  grace,  offends 
the  only  fixed  point  which  the  sinner  retains  in 
his  moral  consciousness,  viz.:  his  sense  of  right. 
Wrong  triumphs  again  and  again,  while  inno- 


156  Jesus  as  He  Was  and  Is 

cence  suffers.  Between  the  hidden  life  and  out- 
ward conditions  there  is  no  harmony  such  as 
our  sense  of  right  postulates.  It  is  this  problem 
which  presented  itself  with  great  force  in  Israel, 
and  for  which  no  solution  is  given  except  in 
the  miracles.  The  miracles  voice  a  palingenesis 
which,  first  in  the  psychical  and  after  that  in 
the  physical  world,  shall  hereafter  dissolve  all 
dissonance  in  entire  harmony.  Every  miracle 
is  a  real  prophecy  of  the  parousia  and  the  res- 
titution of  all  things  which  it  introduces.  The 
miracle  is  the  basis  of  hope  in  that  entirely 
peculiar  significance  which  in  Scripture  it  has 
with  faith  and  love.  It  shows  that  something 
different  is  possible,  and  prophesies  that  it  shall 
some  time  be.  It  is  an  utterance  of  that  free, 
divine  art  by  which  the  supreme  Artist,  whose 
work  of  creation  is  broken,  announces  the  en- 
tire restoration  of  His  original  work  of  art, 
even  in  its  ideal  completion."  (Encyclopedia 
of  Sacred  Theology,  p.  500.) 

In  the  light  of  this  we  have  impressed  upon 
us,  from  a  different  point  of  view,  the  indis- 
pensableness  of  miracles  not  only  to  evangelical 
Christianity  but  to  every  hopeful  outlook  on 
the  future. 


CHAPTER    NINE:    JESUS    AS    ONE 
WHO  DIED 


For  I  delivered  unto  you  first  of  all  that  which  also  I  re- 
ceived: that  Christ  died  for  our  sins  according  to  the 
Scripture. 

— 1  Corinthians  xv:  S. 


IX 


JESUS  AS  ONE  WHO  DIED 


THE  object  of  our  faith  as  Christians  is 
Jesus  as  He  exists  to-day.  We  are  not 
the  worshipers  of  a  dead  Christ,  of  One 
whose  body  lies  moldering  under  the  Syrian 
skies;  we  are  the  worshipers  of  the  living 
Christ,  of  One  who,  clothed  in  power,  is,  even 
now,  at  the  right  hand  of  God.  And  yet  we 
are  the  worshipers  of  One  who  died  not  only 
because  this  is  the  only  Christ  of  whom  we  have 
any  knowledge,  but  more  particularly  because 
the  Christ  as  He  exists  to-day  would  have  little 
or  no  significance  for  us  if  the  virtue  of  His 
death  was  not  perpetuated  in  His  life. 

It  is,  of  course,  true  that  everything  that 
Jesus  experienced  on  earth  contributed  to  that 
significance  that  He  possesses  to-day;  and  yet 
if  we  are  to  single  out  that  in  His  earthly  life 
that  contributed  most  to  that  significance  that 
He  possesses,  unquestionably  we  must  point  to 
His  death. 

159 


160  Jesus  as  He  Was  and  Is 

That  such  is  the  case  is  evidenced  not  only 
by  the  teaching  of  the  New  Testament  but  by 
the  teaching  of  the  Church  of  all  ages.  When 
we  turn  to  the  Gospels  we  find  that  the  death 
of  Christ  is  described  with  a  minuteness  that 
is  not  paralleled  in  the  narrative  of  any  other 
event  of  His  life.  We  find,  moreover,  that 
Jesus  not  only  speaks  of  His  death  in  a  way 
that  indicates  that  He  attached  a  unique  im- 
portance to  it — witness  such  utterances  as 
these :  ' '  The  Son  of  man  came  not  to  be  min- 
istered unto  but  to  minister  and  to  give  His 
life  a  ransom  for  others."  (Matt.  xx:28.)  "I 
am  the  good  shepherd;  the  good  shepherd  lay- 
eth  down  His  life  for  the  sheep."  (John  x:  11.) 
"Verily,  verily  I  say  unto  you,  except  a  grain  of 
wheat  fall  into  the  ground  and  die,  it  abideth 
by  itself  alone;  but  if  it  die  it  beareth  much 
fruit."  (John  xii:  24.)  "And  I,  if  I  be  lifted 
up  from  the  earth  will  draw  all  men  unto  me" 
(John  xii:  32) — we  find  also  that  it  is  the  one 
event  in  His  life  that  He  commanded  His  dis- 
ciples to  commemorate.     (Luke  xxii:  19.) 

When  we  turn  to  the  Acts  and  the  Epistles  we 
find  this  same  central  significance  attached  to 
Christ's  death.  "I  delivered  unto  you  first  of 
all  that  which  I  also  received,  that  Christ  died 
for  our  sins"  (I  Cor.  xv:3),  and  "God  forbid 


Jesus  as  One  TV  ho  Died  161 

that  I  should  glory  save  in  the  cross  of  our 
Lord  Jesus"  (Gal.  vi:  14),  writes  Paul.  "Christ 
also  suffered  for  sins  once,  the  righteous  for  the 
unrighteous,  that  He  might  bring  us  to  God"  (I 
Peter  iii:  18),  writes  Peter.  "Hereby  know  we 
love,  because  He  laid  down  His  life  for  us"  (I 
John  iii:  16),  writes  John.  "We  see  Him  who 
hath  been  made  a  little  lower  than  the  angels, 
even  Jesus,  because  of  the  suffering  of  death 
crowned  with  glory  and  honor"  (Hebrews  ii:  9), 
writes  the  author  of  the  Epistle  to  the  Hebrews. 
We  must  read  their  writings  as  a  whole,  how- 
ever, if  we  would  adequately  appreciate  the 
place  that  Christ's  death  occupied  in  the  think- 
ing of  the  Apostles.  To  do  this  is  to  realize 
that  Christ's  death  occupied  a  place  in  their 
thinking  that  cannot  fairly  be  spoken  of  as 
less  than  central.  In  fact  we  cannot  read  their 
writings  without  feeling  that  there  is  some  war- 
rant for  the  criticism  that  the  Apostles  attached 
a  greater  significance  to  the  death  of  Christ 
than  did  the  Master  himself.  And  yet  in  so 
far  as  this  is  true  it  admits  of  a  natural  ex- 
planation. We  need  only  remember  that  Christ 
came  to  procure  rather  than  to  proclaim  bless- 
ings; or  as  Dr.  Dale  put  it,  that  "Christ  came 
not  so  much  to  preach  the  gospel  as  that  there 
might  be  a  Gospel  to  preach."    In  the  nature 


162  Jesus  as  He  Was  and  Is 

of  the  case  the  full  significance  of  Christ's  death 
could  not  be  set  forth  until  after  that  death  had 
been  accomplished.  It  ought  not  to  surprise  us, 
therefore,  that  the  death  of  Christ  occupies  a 
relatively  larger  place  in  the  teaching  of  the 
Apostles  than  in  the  teaching  of  Jesus  himself. 
This  is  not  to  say,  however,  that  it  occupies  a 
more  important  place  in  the  teaching  of  the 
Apostles  than  in  the  teaching  of  Jesus  himself. 

Now  what  was  true  of  the  New  Testament 
Church  is  scarcely  less  true  of  the  Church  of 
all  ages.  No  important  branch  of  the  Christian 
Church  has  ever  assigned  to  the  death  of  Christ 
a  place  of  subordinate  importance.  Whether 
we  have  regard  to  the  writings  of  their  repre- 
sentative theologians,  or  whether  we  have  re- 
gard to  the  statements  of  their  official  creeds, 
or  whether  we  have  regard  to  the  thoughts  em- 
bodied in  their  songs  and  hymns,  it  is  clear 
that  they  are  all  agreed  in  assigning  to  the 
death  of  Christ  a  place  of  central  importance. 
Catholics  and  Protestants  unite  in  recognizing 
the  cross  as  the  symbol  of  Christianity,  and  in 
singing  the  praises  of  the  "Lamb  that  was 
slain. ' ' 

I  have  pointed  out  that  both  according  to  the 
teaching  of  the  New  Testament  and  the  teach- 
ing of  the  Church  of  all  ages  it  was  the  death 


Jesus  as  One  Who  Died  163 

of  Christ  that  contributed  most  toward  giving 
Him  that  significance  for  us  and  all  men  that 
He  possesses.  Now  what  was  there  about  the 
death  of  Christ  that  gives  it  this  unique  sig- 
nificance? How  must  that  death  be  construed 
in  order  that  we  may  perceive  that  the  living 
Christ  would  have  little  or  no  significance  for 
us  to-day  if  the  virtue  of  His  death  was  not 
perpetuated  in  His  life? 

There  are  those  who  tell  us  that  we  must  be 
content  with  believing  that  the  death  of  Jesus 
contributed  largely  to  the  significance  that 
Christ  possesses,  but  that  we  need  have  no  ex- 
planation of  the  manner  in  which  it  does  this. 
Such  as  these  distinguish  sharply  between 
"fact"  and  "theory."  We  are  told  that  the 
fact  of  Christ's  death  is  of  supreme  importance, 
but  that  the  theory  that  explains  that  fact  is 
of  no  importance.  It  is  impossible,  however, 
to  distinguish  as  sharply  between  "fact"  and 
"theory"  as  these  would  have  us  believe.  And 
that  because  there  is  no  known  fact  of  which 
we  do  not  have  some  theory,  just  as  there  is 
no  theory,  worthy  of  our  attention,  to  which 
some  fact  does  not  correspond.  Whatever  plau- 
sibility attaches  to  this  distinction  is  derived 
from  its  application  to  purely  physical  events, 
as  when  we  are  told  that  it  is  the  fire  that 


164  Jesus  as  He  Was  and  Is 

burns  us  and  not  our  theory  of  heat  or  that  it 
is  our  food  that  nourishes  us  and  not  any  the- 
ory we  may  hold  concerning  the  manner  it  may 
do  this.  When,  however,  we  concern  our- 
selves with  facts  that  appeal  to  the  intel- 
ligence, to  the  emotions,  to  the  conscience,  this 
distinction  loses  all  its  plausibility;  and  we 
find  that  facts  have  significance  for  us  only  as 
they  are  understood.  Hence  when  we  have  in 
mind  facts  other  than  those  that  act  in  a  purely 
physical  way  the  words  of  Prof.  James  Denny 
are  fully  warranted:  "A  fact  of  which  there 
is  absolutely  no  theory  is  a  fact  which  stands 
out  of  relation  to  everything  in  the  universe,  a 
fact  which  has  no  connection  with  any  part  of 
our  experience :  it  is  a  blank  unintelligibility,  a 
rock  in  the  sky,  a  mere  irrelevance  in  the  mind 
of  man.  There  is  no  such  thing  conceivable 
as  a  fact  of  which  there  is  no  theory,  or  even 
a  fact  of  which  we  have  no  theory ;  such  a  thing 
could  not  enter  our  world  at  all ;  if  there  could 
be  such  a  thing,  it  would  be  so  far  from  having 
the  virtue  in  it  to  redeem  us  from  sin,  that  it 
would  have  no  interest  for  us  and  no  effect  upon 
us  whatever.  *  *  *  An  absolutely  unintelligible 
fact,  to  an  intelligent  being,  is  exactly  equiva- 
lent to  zero."  (Studies  in  Theology,  pages  106 
and  108.)     Now  the  death  of  Christ  was  not  a 


Jesus  as  One  Who  Died  165 

purely  physical  fact;  neither  does  it  act  upon 
and  influence  us  in  a  purely  physical  way.  It 
appeals  to  the  intelligence,  to  the  emotions,  to 
the  conscience,  and  hence  it  does  not  and  can- 
not act  upon  us  irrespective  of  our  understand- 
ing' of  it.  No  doubt  we  may  be  genuine  Chris- 
tians while  having  a  very  imperfect  under- 
standing of  this  event ;  but  some  understanding 
of  it  we  must  have  if  it  is  to  have  any  conscious 
significance  for  us  whatever. 

My  objection  to  this  distinction  between 
"fact"  and  "theory,"  however,  is  not  wholly 
based  on  such  general  considerations;  it  is 
based  more  especially  on  the  fact  that  this  dis- 
tinction finds  no  support  in  the  New  Testament 
itself.  When  we  open  its  pages  we  have  our  at- 
tention directed  not  only  to  the  facts  that  lie  at 
the  basis  of  the  Christian  religion  but  to  an 
interpretation  of  those  facts.  We  discover, 
moreover,  that  the  writers  of  the  New  Testa- 
ment no  more  find  the  essence  of  Christianity 
in  the  facts  that  lie  at  its  basis  than  in  the  inter- 
pretation they  place  on  those  facts.  The  facts 
are  indeed  essential.  Apart  from  them  there 
would  be  no  such  thing  as  the  Christian  re- 
ligion. And  yet,  unless  we  place  the  same  in- 
terpretation on  them  that  the  writers  of  the 
New  Testament  placed,  they  will  not  yield  us 


166  Jesus  as  He  Was  and  Is 

Christianity.  Eeject  the  facts  that  lie  at  the 
basis  of  Christianity  and  at  once  it  dissolves 
into  myths  and  legends.  Accept  these  facts  but 
give  them  an  interpretation  other  than  that 
which  the  New  Testament  gives  them  and  that 
which  they  yield  us  will  be  something  other 
than  Christianity.  We  cannot  overemphasize 
the  importance  of  the  facts  that  lie  at  the  basis 
of  the  Christian  religion,  but  let  us  not  forget 
that  these  facts  will  yield  us  Christianity  only 
as  we  place  that  same  interpretation  on  them 
that  the  New  Testament  places. 

I  am  especially  concerned,  at  this  time,  to 
point  out  that  this  holds  good  of  the  fact  of 
Christ's  death.  This  fact  can  as  little  be  dis- 
connected from  its  meaning  as  others.  Did  not 
Paul  write,  "The  love  of  Christ  constraineth 
us  because  we  thus  judge,  that  one  died  for  all, 
therefore  all  died"  (II  Cor.  v:14),  i.e.,  the 
death  of  Christ  had  significance  for  him  and  his 
fellow-Christians  only  because  they  could  and 
did  place  a  certain  intellectual  construction 
upon  it.  That  the  meaning  we  attach  to  Christ's 
death  is  no  less  important  than  the  fact  that  He 
died  is  never  more  evident  than  when  we  con- 
sider Paul's  own  religious  experience.  It  was 
not  the  mere  fact  that  Christ  suffered  and  died 
that  made  Paul  a  Christian.    He  was  aware  of 


Jesus  as  One  Who  Died  167 

this  fact  in  his  pre-Christian  days ;  but  in  those 
clays  he  placed  an  interpretation  on  this  fact 
that  did  not  yield  him  Christianity — an  inter- 
pretation rather  that  made  him  a  persecutor  of 
Christianity.  Moreover,  it  was  not  until  he  had 
been  led  to  put  another  interpretation  on  this 
fact — or  perhaps  we  should  say  that  it  was  by 
virtue  of  the  fact  that  he  was  led  to  put  another 
interpretation  on  this  fact — that  he  became  a 
Christian.  Paul,  therefore,  was  writing  out  of 
his  own  experience  when  he  declared  that  it  was 
not  the  mere  fact  that  Christ  died  but  the 
intellectual  construction  that  he  placed  on  that 
fact  that  gave  it  that  significance  for  him  that 
it  possessed. 

If  I  have  succeeded  in  making  clear  that  this 
all  too  familiar  distinction  between  "fact"  and 
"theory"  is  not  only  untenable  in  itself  but 
that  it  finds  no  support  in  the  New  Testament; 
and  if  I  have  made  clear  at  the  same  time  that 
is  not  the  mere  fact  that  Christ  died  but  the 
meaning  that  we  attach  to  that  event  that  gives 
it  that  significance  that  it  possesses,  we  are  now 
in  a  position  to  appreciate  the  importance  of 
the  question — How  has  the  Church  of  all  ages, 
and  more  especially  how  did  the  Church  of  New 
Testament  times,  so  construe  the  death  of  Christ 
that  it  was  led  to  suppose  that  this  event  con- 


1 68  Jesus  as  He  Was  and  Is 

tributed  so  much  to  that  significance  that  the 
living  Christ  possesses! 

In  the  first  place  they  relate  Christ's  death 
to  His  love.  They  see  in  this  event  the  all-suf- 
ficient evidence  of  the  fact  that  the  living 
Christ,  He  to  whom  all  power  had  been  com- 
mitted in  heaven  and  on  earth,  loved  them  and 
cared  for  them.  Now  what  was  there  about  the 
death  of  Christ  that  led  them  to  see  in  it  the 
supreme  proof  of  His  love  for  them?  Unques- 
tionably they  saw  in  that  death  the  final  proof 
of  His  love  for  them  because  they  saw  that  it 
stood  in  vital  relation  to  their  needs  and  ne- 
cessities, because  they  perceived  that  it  averted 
from  them  evils  that  could  not  otherwise  be 
averted  and  secured  for  them  blessings  that 
could  not  otherwise  be  secured.  This  much 
springs  from  the  nature  of  the  case,  since  there 
could  be  no  intelligible  connection  between 
Christ's  death  and  His  love  for  men  if  that 
death  did  not  stand  in  vital  relation  to  their 
needs  and  necessities.  For  instance,  suppose 
that  while  sitting  on  your  porch  a  runaway 
horse  drawing  an  empty  carriage  comes  dash- 
ing by.  Suppose  now  that  a  man  at  the  risk  of 
his  life  should  succeed  in  stopping  this  horse; 
and  that  he  should  then  turn  to  you  and  say,  ' '  I 
did  that  to  manifest  my  love  for  you. ' '    Would 


Jesus  as  One  Who  Died  169 

you  not  be  more  impressed  by  his  folly  than  his 
love  1  In  fact  would  you  not  be  inclined  to  think 
that  there  was  need  of  a  committee  to  inquire 
into  his  sanity?  But  suppose  that  you  yourself 
or  your  loved  ones  were  in  that  carriage  and 
that  he  had  succeeded  in  stopping  the  horse  at 
the  risk  of  his  life  just  as  it  was  about  to  dash 
over  a  dangerous  precipice.  Would  you  not  be 
constrained  to  see  in  his  act  an  all-sufficient 
proof  of  his  interest  in  you?  And  so  it  is  as  re- 
gards the  death  of  Christ.  If  that  death  had 
not  stood  in  vital  relation  to  our  needs  we 
would  be  at  a  loss  to  know  why  it  took  place. 
In  that  case  it  would  seem  to  us  a  foolish  and 
uncalled-for  sacrifice  on  the  part  of  Christ.  But 
when  we  perceive  that  it  stood  in  vital  relation 
to  our  needs,  that  apart  from  it  we  could  not 
have  been  saved,  we  are  constrained  to  cry  out 
— "greater  love  hath  no  man  than  this,  that  a 
man  lay  down  his  life  for  his  friend. ' ' 

We  obtain  a  more  precise  understanding  of 
why  they  saw  in  Christ's  death  the  crowning 
proof  of  His  love  for  them  when  we  note  that 
they  everywhere  relate  His  death  to  sin  and  its 
forgiveness.  They  were  conscious  of  them- 
selves as  sinners.  Moreover  they  realized  that 
just  as  when  a  man  breaks  the  law  of  the  land 
he  is  guilty  and  by  the  law  of  the  land  con- 


170  Jesus  as  He  Was  and  Is 

demned,  so  when  a  man  breaks  the  law  of  God 
he  is  guilty  and  by  the  law  of  God  condemned. 
And  yet  they  were  conscious  of  themselves  as 
forgiven,  as  those  who  could  say, ' '  there  is  now 
no  condemnation  for  us"  (Romans  viii:l). 
This  finds  its  explanation  in  the  fact  that  they 
believed  that  Jesus  had  secured  this  forgive- 
ness for  them  at  the  cost  of  His  death.  Noth- 
ing is  more  certain  than  that  they  believed  that 
Christ,  the  sinless  One,  had  received  unmerited 
punishment  in  order  that  they  might  receive  un- 
merited forgiveness. 

This  thought  is  involved  in  Christ's  own 
words, ' '  This  is  my  blood  of  the  covenant  which 
is  poured  out  for  many  unto  remission  of  sins" 
(Matt,  xxvi:  28),  and  is  witnessed  to  by  all  the 
disciples.  "Behold  the  Lamb  of  God  that  tak- 
eth  away  the  sin  of  the  world"  (John  i :  29), 
says  John  the  Baptist.  ■ l  Christ  also  hath  once 
suffered  for  sins,  the  just  for  the  unjust,  that 
He  might  bring  us  to  God"  (I  Peter  iii:18), 
and  "He  bare  our  sins  in  His  own  body  on  the 
tree"  (I  Peter  ii :  24),  writes  Peter.  "Christ 
redeemed  us  from  the  curse  of  the  law,  having 
become  a  curse  for  us"  (Gal.  iii:  13),  and  "God 
hath  made  Him  to  be  sin  for  us,  who  knew  no 
sin,  that  we  might  be  made  the  righteousness 
of  God  in  Him"  (II  Cor.  v:21),  writes  Paul. 


Jesus  as  One  Who  Died  171 

"Now  once  in  the  end  of  the  world  hath  He 
been  manifested  to  put  away  sin  by  the  sacri- 
fice of  Himself"  (Hebrews  ix:26),  writes  the 
author  of  the  Epistle  to  the  Hebrews.  "The 
blood  of  Jesus  Christ  His  Son  cleanseth  us  from 
all  sin"  (I  John  i:7),  and  "He  is  the  propitia- 
tion for  our  sins ;  and  not  for  ours  only,  but  for 
those  of  the  whole  world"  (I  John  ii:  2),  writes 
John.  ' '  He  was  wounded  for  our  transgression, 
He  was  bruised  for  our  iniquities ;  the  chastise- 
ment of  our  peace  was  upon  Him ;  and  with  His 
stripes  we  are  healed"  (Isaiah  liii:5),  writes 
Isaiah  in  words  that  are  so  frequently  applied 
to  Jesus  in  the  New  Testament  that  they  may 
be  fairly  cited  as  reflecting  the  views  of  the 
early  Christians. 

In  view  of  such  passages — and  their  number 
might  be  greatly  increased — it  cannot  be  suc- 
cessfully denied  that  the  early  disciples  saw 
in  the  death  of  Jesus  Christ  an  expiatory  sac- 
rifice for  sin;  that  they  believed  that  He  had 
received  unmerited  punishment  in  order  that 
they  might  receive  unmerited  forgiveness ;  and 
that  this  conviction  lay  at  the  basis  of  that 
grateful  love  to  Jesus  Christ  that  was  so  char- 
acteristic of  them.  They  loved  Him  because 
He  had  first  loved  them,  and  His  love  for  them 
had  been  shown  most  of  all  by  the  fact  that 


172  Jesus  as  He  Was  and  Is 

He  had  borne  their  sins  in  His  own  body 
on  the  tree.  No  doubt  the  significance  that 
the  risen  Christ  had  for  the  early  Christians 
is  not  fully  expressed  when  we  say  that 
they  saw  in  Him  One  who,  by  virtue  of  His 
atoning  death,  was  qualified  to  bestow  upon 
them  the  forgiveness  of  their  sins;  and  yet 
nothing  is  more  certain  than  that  any  and  all 
attempts  to  explain  His  significance  for  them 
without  taking  this  into  consideration  is  like  at- 
tempting to  explain  "Hamlet"  while  making 
no  mention  of  the  Prince  of  Denmark,  or  like 
attempting  to  explain  the  place  that  Abraham 
Lincoln  occupies  in  the  thoughts  and  affections 
of  the  American  people  without  taking  into 
consideration  the  services  he  rendered  while 
President  of  these  United  States. 

The  death  of  Christ  is.  at  the  same  time,  to 
be  related  tc  the  love  of  God,  the  Father.  The 
early  Christians  saw  in  that  death  not  only  the 
supreme  proof  of  the  Son's  love  but  also  the  su- 
preme proof  of  the  Father's  love.  It  is  often 
said  that  while  to  speak  of  that  death  as  an 
expiatory  sacrifice  for  sin,  as  a  satisfaction  to 
divine  justice,  is  to  emphasize  the  greatness  of 
that  love  wherewith  Christ  loved  us;  yet  that 
it  detracts  from  our  conception  of  God,  the 
Father,  as  a  God  of  love  and  mercy,  since  it 


Jesus  as  One  Who  Died  173 

implies  that  He  was  indisposed  to  forgive  until 
an  atonement  had  been  made.  No  representa- 
tion could  be  more  foreign  to  the  truth  as  it 
was  conceived  by  the  writers  of  the  New  Testa- 
ment. So  far  were  they  from  seeing  in  the 
sacrificial  death  of  Christ  that  which  detracted 
from  their  conception  of  God,  the  Father,  as  a 
God  of  love  that  we  find  them  pointing  to  that 
death  as  the  culminating  proof  of  the  Father's 
love.  They  never  reason,  God  is  love  and 
therefore  there  is  no  need  of  an  atonement: 
they  ever  reason,  God  is  love  and  therefore  He 
provided  an  atonement.  As  John  says  in  words 
that  might  have  been  used  by  any  of  the  Apos- 
tles, "Herein  was  the  love  of  God  manifested 
in  us,  that  God  sent  His  only-begotten  Son 
into  the  world  that  we  might  live  through  Him. 
Herein  is  love,  not  that  we  loved  God,  but  that 
God  loved  us,  and  sent  His  Son  to  be  the  propi- 
tiation for  our  sins."     (I  John  iv:9,  10.) 

No  doubt  if  they  had  occupied  the  Unitarian 
point  of  view,  according  to  which  Jesus  Christ 
is  but  a  creature,  they  would  have  been  as  lit- 
tle able  to  see  in  His  sacrificial  death  a  proof 
of  the  Father's  love  as  are  our  modern  Uni- 
tarians. In  that  case  it  would  be  difficult  to 
understand  why  they  attached  such  a  signifi- 
cance to  His  death,  but  at  any  rate  it  would 


174  Jesus  as  He  W as  and  Is 

have  spoken  to  them  only  of  the  love  of  Jesus 
and  not  at  the  same  time  of  the  love  of  the 
Father.  Nothing  is  more  certain,  however, 
than  that  they  occupied  the  Trinitarian  point 
of  view,  according  to  which  Jesus  Christ  him- 
self is  a  member  of  the  Godhead.  According 
to  the  Trinitarian  point  of  view  God  the  Father 
and  Jesus  Christ  are  not  two  beings  as  different 
from  each  other  as  Paul  Jones  and  John 
Smith;  they  are  rather  two  persons  of  one  sub- 
stance, so  that  the  self-sacrifice  of  Jesus  Christ 
involved  a  no  less  real  sacrifice  on  the  part  of 
God,  the  Father.  As  Trinitarians,  we  do  not 
suppose  that  some  outside  influence  was 
brought  to  bear  upon  God  to  lead  Him  to  love 
men  notwithstanding  their  sin.  Eather  we  be- 
lieve that  it  was  God  himself  in  the  person  of 
His  only-begotten  Son  who  became  incarnate 
for  us  men  and  our  salvation.  Hence  we  see  in 
the  sacrifice  of  the  Son  not  only  a  manifestation 
of  His  own  love  but  also  a  manifestation  of  the 
love  of  the  Father  and  of  the  Holy  Spirit.  And 
in  full  harmony  with  this  we  read,  "God  com- 
mendeth  His  love  toward  us,  in  that  while  we 
were  yet  sinners  Christ  died  for  us"  (Romans 
v:8),  "God  so  loved  the  world  that  He  gave 
His  only-begotten  Son  that  whosoever  believeth 


Jesus  as  One  Who  Died  175 

on  Him  might  not  perish  but  have  everlasting 
life."  (Johniii:16.) 

Moreover  while  occupying  the  Trinitarian 
point  of  view  we  should  not  permit  ourselves  to 
be  misled  by  the  idea — so  constantly  reiterated 
in  present-day  literature — that  those  who  deny 
that  there  was  any  need  of  an  atonement  to 
remove  obstacles  in  the  way  of  the  exercise 
of  divine  mercy  have  a  higher  conception  of 
God  as  a  God  of  love  than  those  who  hold  that 
Jesus  by  the  sacrifice  of  himself  removed  such 
obstacles.  No  doubt  if  love  in  God  is  divorced 
from  justice  there  is  no  need  of  an  atonement. 
But  if  God  is  a  God  of  holiness  and  righteous- 
ness as  well  as  a  God  of  love,  we  will  be  unable 
to  perceive  how  He  can  be  just  and  yet  justify 
the  ungodly  unless  we  perceive  with  Paul  that 
' '  He  justifies  them  freely  by  His  grace  through 
the  redemption  that  is  in  Christ  Jesus;  whom 
God  set  forth  to  be  a  propitiation  through  faith 
in  His  blood,  to  show  His  righteousness  *  *  * 
that  He  might  himself  be  just,  and  the  justifier 
of  him  that  hath  faith  in  Jesus. "  (Romans  iii : 
24-26.)  Further,  it  ought  to  be  evident  to  all 
that  just  in  proportion  as  we  emphasize  God's 
hatred  of  and  detestation  of  sin,  and  yet  main- 
tain that  He  himself  provided  a  propitiation  for 
sin,  do  we  give  content  to  our  conception  of 


176  Jesus  as  He  Was  and  Is 

His  love.  In  other  words,  the  more  clearly  sin 
appears  as  an  offense  to  God,  the  more  is 
His  love  and  mercy  exalted,  if  none  the  less, 
at  unspeakable  cost  to  himself,  He  devises 
a  way  by  which  in  consistency  with  His 
holiness  and  righteousness  He  may  still  for- 
give sin.  We  oppose  this  idea,  therefore,  not 
because  it  embodies  too  lofty  a  conception 
of  God  as  a  God  of  love,  but  because  it  em- 
bodies too  low  a  conception  of  that  love  where- 
with God  has  loved  us.  As  Prof.  B.  B.  War- 
field  has  said:  "Assuredly  it  is  impossible 
to  put  anything  like  their  real  content  into 
these  great  words,  'God  is  love,'  save  as  they 
are  thrown  out  against  the  background  of  those 
other  conceptions  of  equal  loftiness,  'God  is 
Light,'  'God  is  Righteousness,'  'God  is  Holi- 
ness,' 'God  is  a  consuming  fire.'  The  love  of 
God  cannot  be  apprehended  in  its  length  and 
breadth  and  height  and  depth — all  of  which 
pass  knowledge — save  as  it  is  apprehended  as 
the  love  of  a  God  who  turns  from  the  sight  of 
sin  with  inexpressible  abhorrence,  and  burns 
against  it  with  inexpressible  indignation.  The 
infinitude  of  His  love  is  illustrated  not  by  His 
lavishing  His  favors  on  sinners  without  requir- 
ing an  expiation  of  sin,  but  by  His — through 
such  holiness  and  through  such  righteousness  as 


Jesus  as  One  Who  Died  IJJ 

cannot  but  cry  out  with  infinite  abhorrence  and 
indignation — still  loving  sinners  so  greatly  that 
He  himself  provides  a  satisfaction  for  their  sin 
adequate  to  meet  these  tremendous  demands." 
{The  Atonement  and  the  Modern  Mind,  by  J. 
B.  Eemensnyder,  Introduction,  p.  xxviii.) 

I  have  endeavored  to  make  clear  why  the 
living  Christ  would  have  little  or  no  significance 
for  us,  if  the  virtue  of  His  death  was  not  per- 
petuated in  His  life.  Apart  from  that  death  He 
would  not  be  qualified  to  be  our  Saviour  and 
Eedeemer.  We  are  told  that  while  one  of  the 
saints  of  the  middle  ages  was  praying  in  his 
cell  there  appeared  to  him  a  figure  of  wondrous 
strength  and  beauty,  who  said  unto  him,  ' '  I  am 
thy  Lord,  fall  down  and  worship  me."  The 
saint  was  so  filled  with  admiration  that  he  was 
about  to  accede  to  the  request  but  ere  he  did 
so  he  asked  the  question,  "Where  are  the  print 
of  the  nails?"  At  once  we  are  told  the  figure 
disappeared,  for  it  was  an  angel  of  darkness 
clothed  as  an  angel  of  light.  There  is  a  pro- 
found truth  embodied  in  this  legend;  and  that 
truth  is  this — the  Christ  of  reality  is  One  who 
has  in  His  hands  and  His  feet  the  print  of  the 
nails.  All  other  Christs  are  Christs  of  the 
imagination.  To  them  no  reality  corresponds. 
The  object  of  our  faith  as  Christians  is  not  sim- 


178  Jesus  as  He  Was  and  Is 

ply  Jesus:  it  is  Jesus  as  crucified.  It  is  only 
because  He  was  delivered  for  our  offenses  and 
raised  for  our  justification  that  He  is  able  to 
save  unto  the  uttermost  those  who  come  unto 
God  through  Him. 

"Rock  of  Ages,  cleft  for  me, 
Let  me  hide  myself  in  Thee; 
Let  the  water  and  the  blood, 
From  Thy  riven  side  which  flowed, 
Be  of  sin  the  double  cure, 
Cleanse  me  from  its  guilt  and  power." 


CHAPTER  TEN:  JESUS  AS  THE  RE- 
GENERATOR OF  CHARACTER 


For  to  will  is  present  with  me,  but  to  do  that  which  is 
good  is  not.  For  the  good  which  I  would  I  do  not:  but  the 
evil  which  I  would  not,  that  I  practice.  But  if  what  I  would 
not  that  I  do,  it  is  no  more  I  that  do  it,  but  sin  which  dwell- 
eth  in  me.  I  find  then  the  law,  that  to  me  who  would  do  good, 
evil  is  present.  For  I  delight  in  the  law  of  God  after  the 
inward  man;  but  I  see  a  different  law  in  my  members  warring 
against  the  law  of  my  mind,  and  bringing  me  into  captivity 
under  the  law  of  sin  which  is  in  my  members.  Wretched 
man  that  I  am!  who  shall  deliver  me  out  of  the  body  of  this 
death?     I  thank  God  through  Jesus  Christ  our  Lord. 

— Romans  vii:  18-25. 


JESUS  AS  THE  REGENERATOR  OF  CHARACTER 

IN  the  third  chapter  of  this  book  I  pointed 
out  that  Christ's  primary  purpose  in  com- 
ing into  this  world  was  to  save  sinners. 
This  does  not  simply  mean  that  He  came  to 
save  us  from  the  consequences  of  our  sins,  true 
as  that  is;  it  means  more  especially  that  He 
came  to  save  us  from  the  power  and  dominion 
of  sin  and  to  restore  us  to  the  kingdom  of 
righteousness.  His  purpose,  therefore,  will  not 
have  been  realized  until  out  of  the  members 
of  our  sinful  race  there  has  been  produced  a 
type  of  manhood  and  womanhood  that  finds  its 
archetype  in  Jesus  himself.  While  then  He 
comes  before  us  not  only  as  a  teacher  but  as  an 
example  of  that  which  we  should  be,  yet  He 
comes,  first  of  all,  as  a  Saviour  both  from  the 
guilt  and  power  of  sin. 

Only  as  we  grasp  this  fact  can  we  perceive 
the  fundamental  difference  between  Chris- 
tianity and  all  other  religions.  There  are,  in- 
deed, many  varieties  of  religion  in  this  world, 

181. 


182  Jesus  as  He  Was  and  Is 

and  yet  there  are  but  two  kinds.  The  one,  what- 
ever the  historic  form  it  may  have  taken,  as- 
sumes that  man  is  to  save  himself,  that  literally 
he  is  the  architect  of  his  own  fortune,  the  carver 
of  his  own  destiny;  the  other,  whatever  the 
historic  form  it  may  have  taken,  assumes  that 
man,  if  he  is  to  be  saved  at  all,  must  be  saved 
by  a  power  outside  of  himself,  that  in  the 
strict  sense  of  the  word  there  is  no  such  thing 
as  a  self-made  man,  that  the  highest  type  of 
man  ever  says  with  Paul,  "I  am  what  I  am 
by  the  grace  of  God."  The  contrast  between 
these  two  types  of  religion  is  clear  and  unmis- 
takable. The  one  calls  upon  man  to  save  him- 
self; the  other  brings  him  into  contact  with  a 
power  that  saves  him.  The  one  is  a  religion, 
replete  it  may  be  with  moral  and  spiritual  les- 
sons, unsurpassed  it  may  be  in  wise  counsel  and 
good  advice,  and  yet  with  no  dynamic,  no  source 
of  energy,  save  that  which  inheres  in  man  as 
man ;  the  other  while  it  may  be  equally  rich  in 
spiritual  insight  and  practical  wisdom,  yet  finds 
its  distinctive  quality  in  the  fact  that  it  pro- 
claims a  completed  redemption,  in  the  fact  that 
it  brings  man  into  contact  with  a  living  Ee- 
deemer  and  so  with  a  dynamical  power,  an  ener- 
gizing force  other  than  that  which  inheres  in 
man  as  man. 


Jesus  as  the  Regenerator  of  Character   183 

There  is  no  need  of  pointing  out  to  which  of 

these  kinds  of  religions    Christianity  belongs. 

There  may  be  need,  however,  of  emphasizing 

'  the  fact  that  Christianity  stands  in  a  class  by 

itself  among  the  religions  of  the  world.    That 

such  is  the  case  appears  when  we  consider  that 

,  it  is  the  only  religion  that  even  professes  to 

{  offer  the  world  a  divine  redemption  in  and  by 

the  work  of  another,  and  so  to  do  more  than 

first  instruct  and  then  arouse  into  activity  those 

\  powers  of  conscience  and  sensibility  and  will 

that  inhere  in  man  as  man. 

No  doubt  there  have  been  interpretations  of 
Christianity  presented  to  the  world — notably  in 
i  the  case  of  Unitarianism — that  seek  to  elimi- 
nate this  fundamental  difference  between  the 
religion  that  Jesus  founded  and  the  other  re- 
ligions  of   the   earth,   and  so  to  reduce  Jesus 
himself  to  the  dimensions  of  a  great  religious 
j  leader ;  and  yet  nothing  is  more  certain  than 
I  that    Unitarianism    is    something    other    than 
j  Christianity  as  Christianity  was  understood  by 
the  early  Christians  and  as  it  has  been  under- 
;  stood  by  all  the  great  branches  of  the  Chris- 
tian Church,  so  that  it  is  only  by  a  misuse  of 
j  words  that  Unitarians,  and  all  such  as  deny  that 
I  Jesus  is  the  author  of  their  salvation,  call  them- 
1  selves  Christians  at  all.    The  existence  of  such 


184  Jesus  as  He  Was  and  Is 

interpretations  of  Christianity,  therefore,  do 
not  contradict  the  statement  that  Christianity 
is  the  one  religion  that  offers  salvation  in  and 
by  the  work  of  another. 

Those  who  would  fain  see  in  Christianity  a 
religion  that  simply  calls  upon  men  to  save 
themselves  may  see  in  Jesus  our  greatest 
teacher  in  the  things  of  the  spirit.  They  may 
believe  that  He  inculcated  the  purest  of  morals 
and  proclaimed  the  loftiest  of  ideals.  They 
may  believe,  moreover,  that  He  so  embodied 
these  teachings  in  His  own  life  that  in  Him  we 
have  a  perfect  example  of  that  which  we  our- 
selves should  be.  They  may  even  believe  that 
He  was  a  prophet  sent  from  God,  that  He  per- 
formed miracles,  and  that  after  His  death  He 
rose  from  the  dead.  All  this  and  more  they 
may  believe  concerning  Him.  The  one  thing, 
however,  that  they  may  not  believe  concerning 
Him  is  that  an  expiatory  significance  attached 
to  His  death  or  that  He  energizes  in  our  lives 
in  a  way  that  finds  no  analogy  in  the  influence 
that  one  man  exerts  over  another.  And  yet  un- 
less we  can  believe  these  things  concerning 
Jesus,  Christianity  brings  to  the  world  nothing 
more  than  GOOD  ADVICE,  of  which  there  was 
already  a  surfeit,  and  ceases  to  be  that  GOOD 
NEWS  that  throughout  all  the  changing  cen- 


Jesus  as  the  Regenerator  of  Character  185 

turies  has  gladdened  and  heartened  the  sonls 
of  the  children  of  men. 

If,  however,  we  see  in  Christianity  a  religion 
of  a  different  sort,  if  in  fact  we  see  in  it  the 
one  religion  that  offers  salvation  from  the  guilt 
and  power  of  sin  in  and  through  the  work  of 
another,  it  is  evident  that  we  must  see  in  Jesus 
One  who  does  more  than  give  us  good  advice, 
more  than  set  before  us  a  perfect  ideal  of  life. 
We  must  see  in  Him  One  who  made  expiation 
for  our  sins  as  well  as  One  who  because  He 
liveth  forever  is  able  to  break  that  dominion 
that  sin  has  over  us  and  to  enable  us  to  trans- 
late into  life  the  truths  that  He  taught,  and 
thus  to  realize  within  ourselves  that  ideal  of 
character  and  conduct  that  is  embodied  in  the 
life  He  lived — imperfectly,  to  be  true,  in  this 
life,  yet  ever  more  perfectly  knowing  that ' '  now 
are  we  the  children  of  God,  but  it  doth  not  yet 
appear  what  we  shall  be;  but  we  know  that 
when  He  shall  appear  we  shall  be  like  Him,  for 
we  shall  see  Him  as  He  is." 

Now  it  is  only  as  we  think  of  Jesus  in  this 
latter  sense  that  we  are  warranted  in  speaking 
of  Him  as  the  regenerator  of  character.  We 
cannot  speak  of  Jesus  as  the  regenerator  of 
character  unless  He  be  more  than  a  teacher  and 
example,  unless  He  do  more  than  incite  and  en- 


1 86  Jesus  as  He  Was  and  Is 

courage  us  to  be  and  to  do  that  which  we  ought 
to  be  and  do.  If  we  are  to  see  in  Him  the  re- 
generator of  character,  we  must  see  in  Him 
one  who  effects  a  radical  change  in  our  very 
natures;  one  who  retunes  the  harp  of  life  and 
so  enables  the  harps  that  were  capable  only  of 
discords  to  send  forth  melodious  notes;  one 
who  so  ingrafts  the  tree  of  life  that  the  trees 
that  were  capable  only  of  bearing  evil  fruit  are 
now  capable  of  bearing  good  fruit ;  and  so  one 
who  enables  us  to  be  and  do  that  which  apart 
from  Him  we  would  not  be  able  to  do,  no  mat- 
ter what  moral  and  spiritual  influences  might 
be  brought  to  bear  upon  us. 

That  Jesus  is  rightly  spoken  of  as  the  re- 
generator of  character  lies  at  the  very  basis 
of  the  Christian's  hope  and  calls  for  no  proof 
at  this  time,  unless  it  be  to  remind  you  that 
every  shred  of  evidence  that  goes  to  prove  the 
trustworthiness  of  the  New  Testament  as  well 
as  the  tenableness  of  Christianity  goes  to  prove 
at  the  same  time  that  Jesus  was  and  is  such 
an  One;  for  unless  Jesus  be  such  an  One  there 
ought  not  to  be  such  a  thing  as  Christianity,  as 
Christianity  has  been  understood  in  the  past 
and  as  it  is  understood  to-day  by  all  the  great 
branches  of  the  Christian  Church. 

Moreover,  this  is  the  only  sort  of  a  religious 


Jesus  as  the  Regenerator  of  Character  187 

leader  that  can  meet  the  needs  of  men.  Ethical 
teachers  of  all  ages  have  bewailed  the  fact  that 
"men  know  the  good  without  the  power  to  do  it 
and  that  they  know  the  evil  without  the  power 
to  avoid  it."  We  need  only  make  a  serious 
attempt  to  be  and  do  what  we  ought  to  be  and 
do  to  realize  how  true  this  is.  In  proportion 
as  we  seriously  endeavor  to  be  and  do  what 
we  ought  to  be  and  do,  will  we  make  our  own 
that  despairing  cry  to  which  Paul  gave  such 
striking  expression,  "to  will  is  present  with 
me,  but  how  to  perform  that  which  is  good,  I 
find  not.  For  the  good  that  I  would,  I  do 
not:  but  the  evil  that  I  would  not,  that  I  do. 
I  delight  in  the  law  of  God  after  the  inward 
man,  but  I  see  another  law  in  my  members  war- 
ring against  the  law  of  my  mind  and  bringing 
me  into  captivity  to  the  law  of  sin.  0  wretched 
man  that  I  am,  who  shall  deliver  me  out  of  the 
body  of  this  death?"  Who  of  us  does  not  know 
as  a  matter  of  experience  that  it  is  not  enough 
that  we  know  what  we  ought  to  be  and  do? 
It  is  even  probable  that  the  worst  man  in  the 
world  knows  his  duty  better  than  the  best  man 
performs  it.  It  is  certain  that  in  the  best  of  men 
practice  lags  far  behind  knowledge,  and  that 
struggle   as  we  may  we  cannot  of  ourselves 


1 88  Jesus  as  He  Was  and  Is 

bring  these  two  within  hailing  distance  of  each 
other. 

It  would,  therefore,  have  profited  us  little  or 
nothing  if  Jesus  had  been  content  to  be  a  moral 
teacher  who  exemplified  in  His  own  life  that 
which  He  taught.  What  we  need  more  than  in- 
struction and  more  than  example  is  power,  an 
energy  that  will  enable  us  to  translate  into 
terms  of  life  and  character  that  which  Jesus 
taught  and  exemplified.  Now  it  is  one  of  the 
peculiar  glories  of  Christianity  that  it  provides 
us  with  such  a  dynamic.  In  Jesus  Christ  we 
have  One  who  not  only  tells  us  what  to  do 
but  who  enables  us  to  do  it ;  One  who  not  only 
gives  us  a  vision  of  the  good  but  who  makes 
it  possible  for  us  to  realize  that  good  in  our 
own  lives.  Have  you  never  noticed  with  what 
frequency  this  word  "power"  is  used  in  the 
New  Testament  in  connection  with  Jesus  and 
His  Gospel?  "The  kingdom  of  God  is  not  in 
word  but  in  power,"  and  "I  am  not  ashamed  of 
the  gospel  of  Christ  because  it  is  the  power  of 
God  unto  salvation,"  says  Paul.  "Thou  hast 
given  Him  power  over  all  flesh,"  says  John. 
"The  multitude  glorified  God  who  had  given 
such  power  unto  men,"  says  Matthew.  "His 
word  was  with  power, ' '  says  Luke.  ' '  The  king- 
dom of  God  comes  with  power,"  says  Mark. 


Jesus  as  the  Regenerator  of  Character  189 

"We  made  known  unto  you  the  power  of  our 
Lord  Jesus  Christ,"  says  Peter.  "He  upholds 
all  things  by  the  word  of  His  power, ' '  says  the 
author  of  the  Epistle  to  the  Hebrews.  "All 
power  in  heaven  and  in  earth  is  given  unto 
me,"  said  Jesus  himself  just  before  He  parted 
from  His  disciples  on  Olivet. 

It  is  this  element  of  power  in  Jesus  Christ 
that  constitutes  one  of  the  chief  elements  in 
that  good  news  that  Christianity  brings  to  a 
sinful  world.  Apart  from  this  element  Jesus 
would  no  doubt  still  possess  significance  as  a 
moral  and  spiritual  teacher ;  and  yet  He  would 
simply  differ  in  degree  and  not  in  kind  from 
men  like  Socrates  and  Plato  and  Aristotle  and 
Confucius  and  others.  Because  of  this  element 
of  power,  however,  He  occupies  a  unique  place 
among  the  moral  and  spiritual  leaders  of  man- 
kind. Others  may  hold  before  us  visions  of 
truth  and  duty.  In  Jesus  alone  is  to  be  found 
a  dynamic  that  enables  us  to  realize  those 
visions  in  our  own  lives.  Eliminate  this  ele- 
ment from  the  Christian  proclamation  and  at 
once  it  becomes  a  proclamation  of  despair 
rather  than  one  of  hope.  For  in  that  case  the 
Christian  proclamation  would  differ  from  oth- 
ers only  by  reason  of  the  greater  purity  and 
loftiness  of  the  ideal  it  sets  before  us,  and  so 


190  Jesus  as  He  Was  and  Is 

of  the  greater  stringency  of  the  demand  it 
makes  upon  us.  Then  as  we  listened  and  saw 
ourselves  in  the  light  of  that  proclamation  we 
could  not  but  cry  out  that  such  teaching  is  too 
high  for  us,  that  we  cannot  attain  unto  it.  Give 
this  element  of  power  its  rightful  place  in  the 
Christian  proclamation,  however,  and  it  retains 
its  character  as  a  message  of  hope.  For  in  that 
case  the  purity  and  loftiness  of  its  ideal  and 
so  the  stringency  of  its  demands  becomes  a 
prophecy  of  that  which  we,  by  the  help  of  Jesus 
Christ,  shall  one  day  become.  Still  further, 
when  we  give  this  element  of  power  its  rightful 
place  in  the  Christian  proclamation  we  are  en- 
abled to  proclaim  it  confidently  and  joyfully 
even  to  the  worst  of  sinners,  because  we  see 
in  Jesus  Christ  one  who  is  able  to  break  that 
dominion  that  sin  has  over  them  and  to  lead 
them  on  from  victory  unto  victory  until  that 
ideal  that  was  actualized  in  His  own  person 
shall  have  been  actualized  in  them. 

It  is  evident,  in  view  of  what  has  been  said, 
that  Christianity  in  its  efforts  to  regenerate 
mankind  does  not  put  its  confidence  in  educa- 
tion and  culture  and  such  like.  It  places  its  con- 
fidence in  Jesus  Christ.  It  does  not  indeed  un- 
derestimate the  significance  of  such  things ;  but 
it  does  realize  that  these  things  of  themselves 


Jesus  as  the  Regenerator  of  Character  191 

are  insufficient,  incapable  of  bringing  about  the 
desired  results.  So  far  is  it  from  being  true 
that  Christianity  underestimates  culture  that 
it  is  rather  true  that  it  is  the  chief  and  highest 
power  making  for  culture.  If  by  culture  we 
mean  the  harmonious  development  of  ALL  our 
faculties,  then  I  am  prepared  to  say  that  apart 
from  Jesus  Christ  true  culture  is  unattainable. 
None  the  less  Christianity  realizes  that  educa- 
tion and  culture,  that  leaves  Jesus  Christ  out 
of  consideration,  while  they  may  make  men 
clever,  polished,  brilliant,  have  no  power  to 
change  their  characters.  At  the  most  these 
things  of  themselves  only  cleanse  the  outside  of 
the  cup;  they  do  not  affect  the  nature  of  its 
contents.  Those  who  place  their  confidence  in 
education,  culture  and  such  like  assume  that 
all  that  is  needed  to  change  the  wild  olive  tree 
into  a  good  olive  tree  is  pruning,  spraying,  cul- 
tivation and  such  like,  whereas  what  the  tree 
needs  first  of  all  is  that  it  be  grafted  with  a 
scion  from  a  good  olive  tree.  And  until  this 
is  done  all  labor  that  is  spent  on  the  tree  is 
for  the  most  part  wasted.  We  do  not  under- 
estimate the  value  of  education  and  culture,  and 
yet  one  might  as  well  suppose  that  he  could 
purify  the  waters  of  a  river  by  improving  the 
scenery  along  its  banks  as  suppose  that  these 


192  Jesus  as  He  Was  and  Is 

things  of  themselves  are  capable  of  transform- 
ing the  hearts  of  the  children  of  men.  There 
is  more  hope,  therefore,  we  believe  for  the 
most  illiterate,  the  most  uncultured  of  men  in 
whose  hearts  Jesus  Christ  dwells  than  for  the 
most  learned,  the  most  cultured  of  men  whose 
hearts  are  strangers  to  His  presence.  Because 
in  and  through  Him,  and  in  and  through  Him 
alone,  is  a  true  culture,  i.  e.,  a  harmonious  de- 
velopment of  the  whole  man,  body,  soul  and 
spirit,  attainable;  and  hence  those  who  are 
united  to  Him  by  a  living  faith,  no  matter  how 
uncultured  they  may  be  now,  are  certain  in 
God's  good  time  to  attain  to  that  goal. 

0  Thou  Christ  of  God!  We  praise  Thee  as 
that  teacher  who  speaks  with  authority  con- 
cerning the  realities  of  life,  as  that  prophet 
who  inculcated  the  purest  of  morals  and  pro- 
claimed the  loftiest  of  ideals,  as  that  man  whose 
life  was  pure  and  stainless,  in  whom  we  can 
find  nothing  to  forgive:  but  above  all  we  praise 
Thee  as  the  Saviour  of  the  world,  as  the  Lord 
and  Life  of  humanity.  And  though  there  be 
those  who  see  in  Thee  One  without  form  or 
comeliness,  so  that  they  perceive  in  Thee  no 
beauty  that  they  should  desire  Thee,  yet  to 
those  conscious  of  their  guilt  how  priceless  is 
Thy  blood,  how  precious  the  thought  of  Thy 


Jesus  as  the  Regenerator  of  Character   193 

atoning  sacrifice !  To  them  Thou  art  indeed  the 
chief  among  ten  thousand  and  the  One  alto- 
gether lovely.  And  though  there  be  those  who 
in  their  pride  and  self-sufficiency  proclaim  that 
they  have  no  need  of  Thee,  that  they  will  be  the 
architects  of  their  own  fortunes,  the  carvers  of 
their  own  destinies,  yet  to  those  conscious  of  the 
chasm  that  yawns  between  what  they  are  and 
what  they  ought  to  be,  between  what  they  ought 
to  be  and  what  they  of  themselves  are  capable  of 
becoming,  how  priceless  the  thought  that  Thou 
art  the  Lord  and  life  of  humanity!  How  wel- 
come the  thought  that  Thou  art  able  to  break 
that  dominion  that  sin  exercises  over  them  and 
to  lead  them  onward  and  upward  until  Thou 
dost  bring  them  unto  moral  perfection ! 


CHAPTER  ELEVEN:  JESUS  AS  THE 
REGENERATOR  OF  SOCIETY 


After  this  manner  therefore  pray  ye:  Our  Father  who  art  in 
heaven,  Hallowed  be  thy  name.  Thy  kingdom  come.  Thy 
will  be  done,  aa  in  heaven,  so  on  earth. 

— Matthew  vi:  9,  10. 


XI 


JESUS  AS  THE  REGENERATOR  OF  SOCIETY 

1HAVE  spoken  concerning  Jesus  as  the  re- 
generator of  the  individual.     To-day  I 
want  to  speak  concerning  Jesus  as  the  re- 
generator of  society. 

It  is  unquestionably  true  that  Jesus  throws 
the  emphasis  upon  the  regeneration  of  the  in- 
dividual; and  yet  nothing  is  more  certain  than 
that  Jesus  aims  at  more  than  the  regeneration 
of  the  individual — that  He  aims  at  the  regen- 
eration of  society  itself,  and  hence  that  Christ's 
purpose  will  not  have  been  realized  until  out  of 
the  members  of  our  sinful  race  there  has  been 
produced  not  only  Christlike  men  and  women 
but  a  society  in  which  justice  shall  prevail,  in 
which  love  shall  be  the  law  and  happiness  the 
universal  condition.  We  are  not  to  suppose, 
therefore,  that  the  fact  that  Jesus  emphasizes 
the  regeneration  of  the  individual  involves  any 
indifference  on  His  part  to  social  conditions. 
No  inference  could  be  less  warranted.    Eather 

197 


198  Jesus  as  He  Was  and  Is 

we  should  see  in  this  emphasis  on  the  individual 
an  indication  of  the  fact  that  He  is  wisely  con- 
cerned about  such  matters,  inasmuch  as  the  re- 
generation of  the  individual  is  the  condition  of 
the  regeneration  of  society. 

It  is  just  here  that  we  perceive  most  clearly 
the  superiority  of  Jesus  to  the  ordinary  social 
reformer.  There  are  plenty  of  others  who  have 
an  eye  for  the  frightful  inequalities  and  injus- 
tices of  existing  social  conditions,  and  who  ear- 
nestly long  and  labor  for  a  better  order  of 
things :  but  because  they  are  ignorant  of,  or  in- 
different to,  Christ's  ability  to  save  men  both 
from  the  guilt  and  the  power  of  sin,  they  have 
been  led  to  approach  the  social  problem  from 
without  and  to  imagine  that  the  improvement 
of  man's  environment — the  securing  for  him  of 
better  houses  and  better  clothes  and  better  food 
as  well  as  more  leisure — will  of  itself  usher  in 
this  new  order  of  things.  If  all,  or  even  most, 
of  the  people  who  live  in  good  houses  and  wear 
good  clothes  and  eat  good  food  and  enjoy  ample 
leisure  were  themselves  good  from  the  point  of 
view  of  an  ideal  social  order,  we  might  be  justi- 
fied in  putting  our  confidence  in  these  things. 
In  view  of  the  fact,  however,  that  many  who 
possess  these  things  in  abundant  measure  live 
selfishly,  utterly  regardless  of  the  happiness 


Jesus  as  the  Regenerator  of  Society    199 

and  welfare  of  others,  it  is  evident  that  these 
have  misplaced  their  confidence  and  that  it  is 
utterly  vain  to  suppose  that  the  end  desired 
can  be  secured  by  such  means.  We  ought  not 
indeed  to  be  indifferent  to  these  things,  because 
the  conditions  in  the  midst  of  which  many  of 
our  fellows  live  are  nothing  short  of  frightful. 
Moreover,  it  is  unquestionably  true  that  our  en- 
vironment powerfully  influences  our  characters. 
All  efforts  to  obtain  better  social  conditions, 
whether  by  means  of  wise  legislation  or  other- 
wise, ought,  therefore,  to  receive  our  sympa- 
thetic  support.  And  yet  we  should  never  sup- 
pose that  a  mere  change  of  environment  will 
produce  changed  lives.  As  an  old  Jewish  prov- 
erb has  it :  '  *  Take  the  bitter  tree  and  plant  it  in 
the  garden  of  Eden  and  water  it  with  the  rivers 
there ;  and  let  the  angel  Gabriel  be  the  gardener 
and  the  tree  will  still  bear  bitter  fruit."  Those 
who  imagine  that  a  better  order  of  things  can 
be  ushered  in  simply  by  improving  external 
conditions  are  going  on  the  assumption  that 
if  we  cleanse  the  outside  of  the  cup  the  inside 
will  become  fresh  and  clean  of  itself.  It  is  vain, 
however,  to  look  for  a  better  order  of  things, 
no  matter  how  much  the  present  order  of 
things  may  be  changed,  unless  the  general  level 
of  manhood  and  womanhood  be  raised.     Now 


200  Jesus  as  He  Was  and  Is 

the  unique  significance  of  Jesus  Christ  as  a 
social  reformer  lies  just  at  this  point,  viz.:  in 
His  ability  to  effect  a  radical  change  in  men's 
hearts,  and  thus  to  create  a  new  and  higher 
type  of  manhood  and  womanhood,  and  only  as 
this  is  done,  and  in  proportion  as  it  is  done,  can 
we  hope  for  a  society  in  which  justice  shall  pre- 
vail, in  which  love  shall  be  the  law  and  happi- 
ness the  universal  condition. 

Moreover,  the  facts  of  history  prove  that  up 
to  date  at  least  Jesus  has  been  the  most  effect- 
ive of  social  reformers.  That  which  others 
have  accomplished  along  these  lines  is  as  noth- 
ing as  compared  with  that  which  Jesus  has  ac- 
complished. No  doubt  much  remains  to  be  done, 
and  yet  unquestionably  we  are  indebted  to 
Jesus  for  most  of  what  has  been  done.  A  com- 
parison between  the  social  conditions  that  pre- 
vailed before  the  coming  of  Jesus  and  those  that 
prevail  to-day  throughout  Christendom,  to- 
gether with  a  comparison  between  the  social 
conditions  prevailing  throughout  Christendom 
with  those  that  prevail  in  non-Christian  lands, 
affords  convincing  proof  of  this.  The  thought  I 
have  in  mind  here  has  been  eloquently  ex- 
pressed by  James  Eussell  Lowell — ''When  the 
microscopic  search  of  scepticism  which  has 
hunted  the  heavens  and  sounded  the  seas  to  dis- 


Jesus  as  the  Regenerator  of  Society    201 

prove  the  existence  of  a  Creator  has  turned 
its  attention  to  human  society,  and  found  a 
place  on  this  planet,  ten  miles  square,  where 
a  decent  man  can  live  in  decency,  comfort  and 
security,  supporting  and  educating  his  children, 
unspoiled  and  unpolluted;  a  place  where  age 
is  reverenced,  infancy  protected,  manhood  re- 
spected, womanhood  honored,  and  human  life 
held  in  due  regard — when  sceptics  can  find  such 
a  place,  ten  miles  square  on  this  globe,  where 
the  gospel  of  Christ  has  not  gone  and  cleared 
the  way,  and  laid  the  foundations,  and  made 
decency  and  security  possible,  it  will  be  in  order 
for  the  sceptical  literati  to  move  thither  and 
ventilate  their  views.  But  as  long  as  these 
very  men  are  dependent  upon  the  very  religion 
which  they  discard  for  every  privilege  which 
they  enjoy,  they  may  well  hesitate  a  little  be- 
fore they  seek  to  rob  the  Christian  of  his  hope, 
and  humanity  of  its  faith  in  that  Saviour  who 
alone  has  given  to  man  that  hope  of  life  eternal 
which  makes  life  tolerable  and  society  possible, 
and  robs  death  of  its  terrors  and  the  grave  of 
its  gloom."  Let  us  not  forget  that  bad  as  are 
existing  social  conditions  throughout  Christen- 
dom, they  would  be  infinitely  worse  were  it  not 
for  that  leaven  that  Jesus  cast  into  the  meal 
of  humanity.    If  Jesus  should  cease  His  activi- 


202  Jesus  as  He  Was  and  Is 

ties,  it  is  certain  not  only  that  we  would  fail  to 
make  further  progress  along  these  lines  but 
that  we  would  lose  what  we  have  already- 
gained. 

It  is  involved  in  what  has  been  said,  and  yet 
it  may  be  well  to  emphasize  the  fact,  that 
Jesus'  effectiveness  as  a  social  reformer  lies  in 
His  ability  to  deal  with  sin.  Other  reformers 
have  much  to  say  about  imperfect  legislation, 
unfavorable  environment  and  such  like,  but  they 
have  little  to  say  about  sin.  And  this,  notwith- 
standing the  fact  that  sin  on  the  part  of  some- 
body is  the  great  root-cause  of  social  misery. 
The  late  Prof.  James  Orr  was  well  within  the 
facts  when  he  said,  "Take  away  from  the  his- 
tory of  humanity  all  the  evils  which  have  come 
on  man  through  his  own  folly,  sin,  and  vice; 
through  the  follies  and  vices  of  society ;  through 
tyranny,  misgovernment  and  oppression; 
through  the  cruelty  and  inhumanity  of  man  to 
man ;  and  how  vast  a  portion  of  the  problem  of 
evil  would  already  be  solved!  What  myriads 
of  lives  have  been  sacrificed  on  the  shrines 
of  Bacchus  and  Lust;  what  untold  misery  has 
been  inflicted  on  the  race  to  gratify  the  un- 
scrupulous ambitions  of  ruthless  conquerors; 
what  tears  and  groans  have  sprung  from  the 
institution   of  slavery;   what   wretchedness   is 


Jesus  as  the  Regenerator  of  Society    203 

hourly  inflicted  on  human  hearts  by  domestic 
tyranny,  private  selfishness,  the  preying  of  the 
strong  on  the  weak,  the  dishonesty  and  chican- 
ery of  society!  *  *  *  If  all  the  suffering  and 
sorrow  which  follows  directly  or  indirectly  from 
human  sin  could  be  abstracted,  what  a  happy 
world  after  all  this  would  be!"  {The  Christian 
View  of  God  and  the  World,  p.  186.)  We  may 
be  sure,  therefore,  that  if  Jesus  had  had  as  lit- 
tle to  say  about  sin  as  many  of  our  modern 
reformers,  His  efforts  along  the  lines  of  social 
betterment  would  have  proven  as  ineffective 
as  theirs.  More  especially,  we  may  be  sure,  that 
if  He  was  no  more  capable  of  dealing  with  sin 
in  the  way  of  exterminating  it  than  are  others, 
His  efforts  would  have  produced  no  lasting  re- 
sults. His  work  has  proven  effective  while  that 
of  others  has  proven  ineffective  because  He 
alone  is  able  to  deal  with  sin,  the  great  root- 
cause  of  social  misery.  It  is  this  ability  that 
puts  Him  in  a  class  by  himself  among  social 
reformers ;  and  moreover  it  is  because  He  pos- 
sesses this  ability  that  He  affords  the  one 
ground  for  believing  that  a  kingdom  of  love  and 
righteousness  shall  yet  be  realized  on  earth. 

But  while  Christianity,  because  of  its  faith  in 
Jesus  Christ,  confidently  looks  forward  to  a  re- 
newed earth  wherein  dwelleth  righteousness,  we 


204  Jesus  as  He  Was  and  Is 

are  not  to  suppose  that  it  is  committed  to  any 
specific  social  scheme.  Christianity  as  such 
does  not  take  sides  between  the  advocates  of 
the  present  social  order  and  that  proposed, 
for  instance,  by  socialists.  No  doubt  there  is 
much  in  the  present  social  order,  such  as  child 
labor,  sweat  shops,  white  slavery,  alcoholism, 
unfair  distribution  of  wealth,  militarism,  that 
must  be  eliminated  before  Christianity's  hope 
for  this  world  is  realized:  and  no  doubt  there 
is  much  about  Socialism  as  it  has  been  com- 
monly advocated,  such  as  its  irreligion,  its  ma- 
terialism, its  class  hatred,  that  must  be  elimi- 
nated before  it  can  even  pretend  to  be  in  har- 
mony with  Christianity's  hope  for  this  world. 
And  yet  Christianity  of  itself  does  not  enable 
us  to  determine  whether  this  better  order  of 
things  is  to  come  about  through  the  elimina- 
tion of  the  bad  features  and  the  strengthening 
of  the  good  features  of  the  present  social  order, 
or  whether  with  the  retention  of  what  is  good 
in  the  present  social  order  there  is  to  be  a  reor- 
ganization of  society  along  the  economic  lines 
proposed  by  Socialism. 

If  most  Christians  oppose  Socialism  it  is  not 
because  they  are  committed  to  the  present  social 
order  by  virtue  of  the  fact  that  they  are  Chris- 
tians;  but   rather  because  they  believe   that 


Jesus  as  the  Regenerator  of  Society    205 

Socialism  as  an  economic  arrangement  would 
not  bring  about  the  good  results  claimed  for 
it.  Because,  in  fact,  they  believe  that  it  would 
be  the  occasion  of  more  evil  than  it  would  cure ; 
and  hence  the  putting  of  it  into  practice  would 
retard  rather  than  promote  the  realization  of 
an  ideal  social  order.  Prove  that  the  reor- 
ganization of  society  along  the  lines  proposed 
by  Socialism  would  produce  not  merely  a  social 
order  that  is  more  just  and  equitable  and  thus 
better  fitted  to  develop  a  high  type  of  manhood 
and  womanhood  than  the  present  social  order; 
but  one  that  is  more  just  and  equitable  and  thus 
better  fitted  to  develop  a  high  type  of  manhood 
and  womanhood  than  the  present  social  order, 
provided  the  present  social  order  be  freed  from 
its  bad  and  strengthened  in  its  good  features; 
and  as  Christian  citizens  it  would  be  our  duty 
to  do  all  in  our  power  to  further  the  progress 
of  Socialism.  As  long,  however,  as  it  appears 
to  us  that  Socialism  as  an  economic  arrange- 
ment would  be  decidedly  inferior  to  the  present 
order  as  it  is,  and  more  especially  to  the  pres- 
ent order  as  it  may  become,  it  is  our  duty  as 
Christian  citizens  to  do  all  in  our  power  to 
hinder  its  progress. 

But  while  Christianity  is  not  committed  to 
any  specific   social  scheme  and  hence  cannot 


206  Jesus  as  He  Was  and  Is 

justly  be  spoken  of  as  committed  to  the  advo- 
cacy of  the  present  social  order;  and  while 
Christianity  does  not  make  its  appeal  to  any 
one  class  within  the  social  order,  yet  unques- 
tionably its  social  affinities  are  and  ever  have 
been  with  the  poor  and  oppressed  rather  than 
with  the  rich  and  powerful.  From  this  point 
of  view  the  fundamental  note  of  Christianity 
was  struck  in  those  words  from  the  prophecy 
of  Isaiah  that  Jesus  chose  as  the  text  of  His 
first  recorded  sermon,  "The  spirit  of  the  Lord 
is  upon  me,  because  He  has  annointed  me  to 
preach  good  tidings  to  the  poor;  He  has  sent 
me  to  proclaim  release  to  the  captives,  and  re- 
covering of  sight  to  the  blind,  to  set  at  liberty 
them  that  are  bruised,  to  proclaim  the  accept- 
able year  of  the  Lord. "  If  it  be  true,  then,  that 
there  are  laboring  men  who  suppose  that  Chris- 
tianity is  out  of  sympathy  with  them  in  their 
efforts  to  secure  better  conditions  for  them- 
selves and  their  children,  this  is  only  because 
they  have  got  their  conception  of  Christianity 
from  those  professing  Christians  who,  by  their 
unsocial  conduct,  have  misrepresented  Chris- 
tianity before  the  world,  and  not  because  the 
facts  warrant  such  a  notion.  Nothing  is  more 
to  be  regretted  than  the  fact  that  so  many 
workingmen  have  apparently  got  the   notion 


Jesus  as  the  Regenerator  of  Society  207 

that  the  sympathies  of  Christianity  are  with  the 
so-called  capitalist  class.  As  a  matter  of  fact, 
as  Shailer  Mathews  has  pointed  out,  the  best 
elements  in  that  social  ideal  that  is  preached 
by  Socialism  are  themselves  children  of  the 
Christian  Church — prodigals,  perhaps,  strayed 
far  from  home  and  into  strange  companion- 
ships, but  none  the  less  children. 

Now,  in  view  of  what  has  been  said,  it  would 
appear  that  the  method  by  which  we  can  best 
further  the  social  ideal  is  the  method  of  evan- 
gelization. This  method  has  proven  the  most 
effective  in  the  past,  and  moreover  it  promises 
most  for  the  future.  No  doubt  other  factors 
such  as  education  and  legislation  have  their 
part  to  play  and  yet  these  things  of  themselves 
must  ever  prove  ineffective  because  they  have 
no  power  to  change  men's  natures.  Jesus  alone 
has  the  power  to  do  that,  and  hence  it  is  only 
as  men  are  brought  into  living  relations  with 
Him  that  we  can  hope  to  see  wrong  and  injus- 
tice cast  out  and  love  and  righteousness  tri- 
umphant. As  Dr.  James  Stalker  has  said  in  his 
recent  book  The  Ethics  of  Jesus:  "Even 
from  the  point  of  view  of  benevolence,  evan- 
gelization is  the  deepest  service  that  one  man 
can  render  another.  For  while  ordinary  benev- 
olence may  feed  the  hungry    and    clothe    the 


208  Jesus  as  He   Was  and  Is 

naked,  evangelization  enables  the  poor  to  feed 
and  clothe  themselves;  because  it  touches  the 
springs  of  manhood  and  self-respect  and  trans- 
forms the  whole  condition  from  within;  and 
while  it  does  so  on  a  small  scale  in  the  indi- 
vidual and  family,  it  does  so  no  less  on  the 
great  scale  in  the  nation  or  race ;  for  the  whole 
course  of  history  ever  since  the  Advent  goes  to 
prove  that,  wherever  the  light  of  the  Gospel 
shines,  the  blessings  of  civilization  abound 
also."  Those,  therefore,  who  are  doing  most 
toward  carrying  out  the  last  great  command, 
"Go  ye  therefore  and  make  disciples  of  all 
nations  *  *  *  teaching  them  to  observe  all  things 
whatsoever  I  command  you,"  are  those  also  who 
are  doing  most  toward  bringing  in  the  bet- 
ter order  of  things.  The  need  of  this  age, 
therefore,  as  of  all  ages,  is  an  evangelization 
that  teaches  men  to  do  all  the  things  that  Jesus 
commanded.  In  the  very  nature  of  the  case 
men  cannot  take  Jesus  as  their  Saviour  both 
from  the  guilt  and  power  of  sin  and  at  the 
same  time  strive  to  do  all  the  things  He  com- 
manded without  becoming  centers  of  influence 
that  make  for  social  well-being. 

No  doubt  there  have  been,  and  are,  Chris- 
tians who  have  gone  on  the  assumption  that 
Jesus   simply  aims  to   save  them  out  of  the 


Jesus  as  the  Regenerator  of  Society    209 

world  and  who  as  a  result  have  lived  out  their 
lives  more  or  less  regardless  of  social  condi- 
tions; but  that  is  only  because  they  have  ac- 
cepted and  endeavored  to  live  a  part  rather 
than  the  whole  of  the  Gospel  of  Jesus  Christ. 
It  is  inconceivable  that  those  who  accept  the 
whole  Gospel  of  Jesus  Christ  should  be  indiffer- 
ent to  social  conditions. 

And  no  doubt  there  have  been,  and  are,  those 
who,  though  identified  with  the  Church,  have 
made  their  way  to  wealth  and  power  by  exploit- 
ing their  fellows  and  who  surrounded  with 
every  comfort  are  wholly  indifferent  to  the  wel- 
fare and  happiness  of  others;  but  that  only 
proves  that  such  are  merely  Christian  in  name 
and  not  in  fact;  it  does  not  at  all  militate 
against  the  conviction  that  only  as  the  Gospel 
of  Jesus  Christ  is  accepted  and  lived  in  its  en- 
tirety can  we  hope  for  the  full  coming  of  that 
Kingdom  in  which  there  shall  be  no  wrong  or 
injustice  or  oppression  but  only  that  which  is 
right  and  just  and  according  to  the  law  of  love. 

"Poor  world!  if  thou  cravest  a  better  day, 
Remember  that  Christ  must  have  His  own  way; 
I  mourn  thou   art  not   as   thou  mightest  be, 
But  the  love  of  God  would  do  all  for  thee." 


CHAPTER   TWELVE:   JESUS   AS   A 
MAN  AND  AS  A  FRIEND 


The  man  Christ  Jesus. 

—I  Timothy  ii :  5. 


Ye  are  my  friends,  if  ye  do  the  things  which  I  command 
you.  No  longer  do  I  call  you  servants;  for  the  servant 
knoweth  not  what  his  lord  doeth:  but  I  have  called  you 
friends;  for  all  things  that  I  heard  from  my  Father  I  have 
made  known  unto  you. 

— John  xv :  14,  15. 


XII 

JESUS  AS  A  MAN  AND  AS  A  FKIEND 

WHEN  we  think  of  Jesus  as  one  who  pos- 
sessed miraculous  power,  as  one  who 
was  wholly  free  from  sin  and  error, 
as  one  who  regenerates  not  only  the  individual 
but  society  itself,  as  one  whose  right  it  is  to 
rule  over  nations  as  well  as  individuals,  we  are 
apt  to  be  so  greatly  impressed  by  that  which 
separates  between  Him  and  us  as  to  forget  that 
which  we  have  in  common.  In  other  words  the 
divine  in  Him  is  apt  to  loom  so  large  in  our 
minds  as  to  lead  us  to  forget  His  humanity,  the 
fact  that  He  was  and  is  bone  of  our  bone  and 
flesh  of  our  flesh. 

It  is  this,  for  instance,  that  accounts  in  large 
degree  for  the  position  accorded  the  Virgin 
Mary  in  the  worship  of  Rome.  The  majesty 
and  divinity  of  Jesus  seemed  to  remove  Him  so 
far  from  men  that  they  felt  the  need  of  His 
mother  as  one  who  would  mediate  between  Him 
and  them.  As  an  illustration  of  this  Bernard 
of  Clairvaux  is  quoted  as  asking  in  one  of  his 
sermons:    "Dost  thou  fear  the  divine  majesty 

213 


214  Jesus  as  He  Was  and  Is 

in  the  Son  ?  Wilt  thou  find  an  advocate  before 
Him?  Flee  to  Mary;  in  her  humanity  is  pure. 
The  Son  will  listen  to  the  mother  and  the  Father 
to  the  Son."  No  doubt  other  factors  worked 
toward  bringing  about  that  worship  and  inter- 
cession of  Mary  that  prevails  in  the  Roman 
Catholic  Church,  despite  the  fact  that  it  is 
without  scriptural  warrant.  Yet  unquestion- 
ably the  prominence  of  the  Virgin  Mary  in  the 
worship  of  Rome  finds  its  explanation  in  large 
part  in  the  fact  that  men  think  of  the  Father 
and  the  Son  as  so  far  removed  from  them 
that  they  feel  the  need  of  a  purely  human  being 
to  intercede  in  their  behalf.  In  harmony  with 
this  judgment  we  find  Cardinal  Gibbons  in  his 
book,  The  Faith  of  Our  Fathers,  quoting  with 
approval  the  words  of  Longfellow,  taken  from 
his  Golden  Legend, 

"And  even  as  children  who  have  much  offended 
A  too  indulgent  father,  in  great  shame, 
Penitent,  and  yet  not  daring  unattended 
To  go  into  his  presence,  at  the  gate 
Speak  to  their  sister  and  confiding  wait 
Till  she  goes  in  before  and  intercedes; 
So  men,  repenting  of  their  evil  deeds, 
And  yet  not  venturing  rashly  to  draw  near 
With  their  requests,  an   angry  Father's  ear 
Offer  to  her  their  prayers  and  their  confession, 
And  she  in  heaven  for  them  makes  intercession." 


Jesus  as  a  Man  and  as  a  Friend     215 

I  am,  of  course,  speaking  to  those  who,  while 
they  may  honor  Mary  as  the  most  blessed  of 
women,  do  not  suppose  that  she  occupies  the 
position  of  an  intercessor  between  them  and 
God.  And  yet  I  am  speaking  to  those  who  need 
to  be  on  their  guard  lest  they  so  emphasize  that 
which  is  divine  in  Jesus  as  to  lead  them  to 
underemphasize  that  which  He  has  in  common 
with  themselves. 

It  is  indeed  true  that  Jesus  is  pictured  in  the 
Scriptures  as  a  divine,  as  a  supernatural  being, 
as  one  whose  rank  in  the  scale  of  being  places 
Him  alongside  of  God;  and  yet,  while  He  is 
pictured  as  more  than  a  man,  nothing  is  more 
certain  than  that  He  is  pictured  as  a  man. 
Hence  the  difference  of  opinion  that  exists  at 
this  point  is  not  that  some  see  in  Jesus  sim- 
ply a  man  while  others  see  in  Him  simply  a 
God.  The  difference  lies  in  the  fact  that  some 
see  in  Him  simply  a  man  while  others,  though 
falling  behind  them  in  no  respect  in  their  con- 
fession of  His  humanity,  believe  at  the  same 
time  that  He  is  more  than  a  man.  Those  of  us, 
therefore,  who  see  in  Jesus  one  who  is  to  be 
honored  as  God  yield  in  no  respect  to  others  in 
our  confession  of  His  humanity,  so  that  there 
is  no  hesitation  whatever  on  our  part  when  we 
say  that  in  all  that  goes  to  make  a  man,  whether 


216  Jesus  as  He  W as  and  Is 

as  regards  his  body  or  his  soul,  Jesus  was  and 
is  a  man.  We  may  be  more  or  less  at  a  loss 
to  explain  just  how  one  person  can  unite  the 
qualities  of  divinity  with  those  of  humanity, 
but  we  are  in  no  doubt  as  to  the  fact  itself. 

Moreover,  those  who  derive  their  conception 
of  Jesus  from  the  New  Testament  rather  than 
from  their  imaginations  will  see  in  Jesus  not 
only  a  man  but  the  most  accessible,  the  most 
easily  approachable  of  men.  We  need  only 
think  of  the  mothers  bringing  their  children 
to  Jesus,  of  the  woman  of  Samaria  entering 
into  conversation  with  Him  at  the  well  of  Jacob, 
of  the  woman  who  was  a  sinner  who  entered 
into  the  Pharisees '  house  and  wet  His  feet  with 
her  tears  and  wiped  them  with  the  hair  of  her 
head,  as  well  as  other  events  of  a  similar  nature 
in  His  life,  to  perceive  how  true  this  is. 

There  is  nothing  more  wonderful  about  Jesus 
than  this,  in  view  on  the  one  hand  of  His  sin- 
less character  and  on  the  other  hand  of  the 
supernatural  power  He  wielded.  We  would  nat- 
urally have  expected  that  sinful  men  would 
have  felt  uncomfortable  in  the  presence  of  a 
sinless  being  somewhat  as  we,  in  lesser  degree, 
are  apt  to  feel  uncomfortable,  "sort  of  out  of 
place,"  in  the  presence  of  one  whose  life  is 
singularly  pure;   and  yet  this  did  not  prove 


Jesus  as  a  Man  and  as  a  Friend     217 

true  in  the  case  of  Jesus.  Though  He  was  one 
who  loved  righteousness  and  hated  iniquity,  yet 
sinners  of  their  own  accord  went  to  Him  and 
made  Him  their  confidant.  Evidently  they  saw 
in  Him  one  whose  sympathy  for  the  sinner  was 
no  less  lively  than  His  hatred  of  sin.  Again  we 
would  naturally  have  expected  that  men  would 
have  feared  in  the  presence  of  one  who  wielded 
supernatural  power.  It  is  not  a  great  while 
since  men  believed  in  witches,  in  human  beings 
who  wielded  a  supernatural  power  by  means 
of  wThich  they  could  bless  or  curse  their  fel- 
lows ;  and  we  all  know  how  fearful  men  were  of 
them  and  the  extremes  to  which  they  went  to 
get  rid  of  them.  And  yet  though  in  the  days 
of  His  flesh  He  was  universally  believed  to  ex- 
ercise divine  power — even  His  enemies  did' not 
question  it — we  do  not  find  that  men  were  fear- 
ful of  Him,  that  they  were  in  dread  lest  He 
should  turn  this  power  against  them.  Evidently 
this  finds  its  explanation  in  the  fact  that  they 
saw  in  Him  one  who  was  absolutely  good  and 
therefore  one  of  whom  it  was  utterly  certain 
that  He  would  use  His  power  beneficently. 

Now  in  view  of  the  fact  that  Jesus  is  a  man 
— and  the  most  accessible,  the  most  approach- 
able of  men — there  is  nothing  surprising  in  the 
fact  that  in  the  Scriptures  He  is  spoken  of  as 


21 8  Jesus  as  He  Was  and  Is 

sustaining  to  men  the  relation  of  a  friend.  This 
is  only  what  was  to  be  expected  on  the  one 
hand  in  view  of  what  we  know  of  His  earthly 
life  as  a  whole,  and  on  the  other  hand  in  view 
of  the  fact  that  He  is  "the  same  yesterday,  to- 
day and  forever."  There  is  no  reason,  then, 
why  we  should  not  take  His  words  at  their  face 
value  when  He  says  to  His  disciples  and 
through  them  to  us : ' '  Ye  are  my  friends  if  ye  do 
the  things  which  I  command  you.  No  longer  do 
I  call  you  servants;  for  the  servant  knoweth 
not  what  His  Lord  doeth :  but  I  have  called  you 
friends ;  for  all  things  that  I  have  heard  of  my 
Father  I  have  made  known  unto  you." 

It  is  wonderful  that  Jesus  should  have  called 
those  poor,  rough,  uncultured,  half-educated 
fishermen  of  Galilee  His  friends;  and  yet,  as  I 
have  intimated,  the  full  significance  of  these 
words  has  not  dawned  upon  us  unless  we 
realize  that  they  concern  not  simply  a  fact  in 
ancient  history  but  a  fact  that  has  been  re- 
peated throughout  all  the  changing  centuries, 
and  that  is  being  repeated  to-day  wherever  the 
name  of  Jesus  is  known  and  loved.  As  the  late 
Alexander  Maclaren  said:  "The  friendship  of 
which  we  here  read  lasts  to-day.  A  peculiarity 
of  Christianity  is  the  strong  personal  tie  of  real 
love  and  intimacy  which  will  bind  men,  to  the 


Jesus  as  a  Man  an  J  as  a  Friend     219 

end  of  time,  to  this  Man  that  died  nineteen  hun- 
dred years  ago.  We  look  back  into  the  wastes 
of  antiquity:  mighty  names  rise  there  that  we 
reverence ;  there  are  great  teachers  from  whom 
we  have  learned,  and  to  whom,  after  a  fashion, 
we  are  grateful.  But  what  a  gulf  there  is  be- 
tween us  and  the  best  and  noblest  of  them !  But 
here  is  a  dead  Man,  who  to-day  is  the  Object  of 
passionate  attachment  and  a  love  deeper  than 
life  to  millions  of  people,  and  will  be  till  the  end 
of  time.  There  is  nothing  in  the  whole  history 
of  the  world  in  the  least  like  that  strange  bond 
which  ties  you  and  me  to  the  Saviour,  and  the 
paradox  of  the  Apostle  remains  a  unique  fact 
in  the  experience  of  humanity:  'Jesus  Christ, 
whom  having  not  seen,  ye  love. '  We  stretch  out 
our  hands  across  the  waste,  silent  centuries,  and 
there,  amidst  the  mists  of  oblivion,  thickening 
round  all  other  figures  in  the  past,  we  touch  the 
warm,  throbbing  heart  of  our  Friend,  who  lives 
forever,  and  forever  is  near  us.  We  here, 
nearly  two  millenniums  after  the  words  fell  in 
the  nightly  air  on  the  road  to  Gethsemane,  have 
them  coming  directly  to  our  own  hearts.  A  per- 
petual bond  unites  men  with  Christ  to-day ;  and 
for  us,  as  really  as  in  that  long-past  Paschal 
night,  is  it  true, '  Ye  are  My  friends. '  ' '  (Expo- 
sitions of  Holy  Scriptures.) 


220  Jesus  as  He  Was  and  Is 

Do  we  know  Jesus  as  our  friend?  Do  we 
make  Him  our  daily  confidant?  Do  we  go  to 
Him#for  sympathy  and  encouragement?  If  not, 
we  are  not  living  up  to  our  full  privileges  as 
the  children  of  God.  It  may  be  that  we  trust 
Jesus  as  our  Saviour,  that  we  bow  before  Him 
as  our  Lord;  and  yet  that  we  do  not  enjoy  the 
glad  consciousness  that  He  is  our  friend.  Per- 
haps we  even  think  that  it  is,  in  a  measure,  pre- 
sumptuous for  us  to  call  Jesus  our  friend.  Who 
or  what  are  we  that  we  should  stand  on  such 
terms  of  intimacy  with  the  Saviour  of  the 
world,  with  the  Lord  and  Life  of  humanity? 
Yet  incredible  as  it  may  seem,  Jesus  calls  those 
who  trust  and  obey  Him  His  friends,  and  inas- 
much as  friendship  is  always  mutual  it  is  evi- 
dent that  He  would  have  such  call  Him  their 
friend.  If  we  are  among  those  who  trust  and 
obey  Jesus  it  is  not  presumptuous  for  us  to  call 
Him  our  friend.  In  that  case  we  are  merely 
doing  what  He  would  have  us  to  do  and  so  what 
we  are  entitled  to  do.  We  no  doubt  feel  how  un- 
worthy we  are  of  this  privilege,  but  none  the 
less  this  privilege  is  ours ;  and  we  have  not  fully 
entered  upon  our  inheritance  in  Christ  Jesus 
unless  we  know  Him  not  only  as  our  Saviour 
and  King  but  also  as  our  Friend. 

Surely  it  ought  to  mean  much  to  us  to  have 


Jesus  as  a  Man  and  as  a  Friend     221 

such  a  friend  as  Jesus.  There  is  nothing  rarer, 
nothing  to  be  prized  more,  even  among  men  than 
a  true  friend.  "Well  does  the  poet  say,  ' '  Those 
friends  thou  hast  and  their  adoption  tried,  grap- 
ple them  to  thy  soul  with  hoops  of  steel."  And 
yet  valuable  as  are  these  earthly  friends,  there 
is  no  merely  earthly  friend  who  for  one  mo- 
ment can  be  compared  with  our  divine  friend — 
no  one  who  understands  us  so  well,  who  sym- 
pathizes with  us  so  fully,  whose  interest  in  us  is 
so  unselfish,  so  disinterested.  There  are  times 
when  even  our  best  earthly  friends  misunder- 
stand us,  when  they  misinterpret  our  actions: 
Jesus  never  does.  And  then  we  experience  at 
times  a  bitterness  of  spirit,  an  anguish  of  soul, 
the  burden  of  which  no  human  being  can  ade- 
quately share;  but  there  is  no  bitterness  of 
spirit,  no  anguish  of  soul  that  Jesus  is  not 
fully  able  to  share.  Hence  we  cannot  but 
realize,  at  times,  the  inadequacy  of  all  purely 
human  friends,  that  there  is  that  for  which 
we  would  go  to  them  in  vain  for  relief — 
what  can  they  do  to  still  the  voice  of  con- 
science, to  speak  peace  to  sin-troubled  souls? 
The  sufficiency  of  Jesus,  however,  is  never  ex- 
hausted. From  age  to  age  He  stands  saying, 
''Come  unto  me,  all  ye  that  labor  and  are 
heavy-laden,   and  I  will  give  you  rest.    Take 


222  Jesus  as  He  Was  and  Is 

my  yoke  upon  you  and  learn  of  me;  for  I  am 
meek  and  lowly  of  heart :  and  ye  shall  find  rest 
unto  your  souls." 

Moreover,  we  cannot  but  realize  that  all 
earthly  friends  are  more  or  less  fickle,  that  we 
can  have  no  absolute  assurance  that  they  will 
always  remain  true.  Their  love  for  and  inter- 
est in  us  may  grow  cold ;  they  may  leave  us  and 
forsake  us  when  we  need  them  most.  We  may 
be  sure,  however,  that  this  will  not  prove  true 
of  Jesus.  His  love  was  put  to  the  supreme 
test, ' '  Greater  love  hath  no  man  than  this,  that 
a  man  lay  down  his  life  for  his  friend."  Be- 
cause His  love  stood  that  test  we  may  be  sure 
it  will  not  yield  to  any  lesser  test. 

And  then  our  earthly  friends  cannot  always 
be  with  us.  Much  of  our  lives  must  be  lived 
apart  from  them.  As  far  as  they  are  concerned 
much  of  our  lives  must  be  lived  in  solitude.  It 
is  different,  however,  with  Jesus.  He  is  ever 
with  us.  With  Jesus  as  our  friend  we  need 
never  live  in  solitude;  we  need  never  feel  that 
we  are  alone  in  the  world  unloved,  unthought 
of :  and  walking  hand  in  hand  with  Him  through 
this  dark  world  we  can  possess  tranquillity  of 
spirit  even  in  the  midst  of  dangers  because 
greater  is  He  that  is  with  us  than  they  that  be 
against  us. 


Jesus  as  a  Man  and  as  a  Friend    223 

0  Jesus!  Thou  art  indeed  the  friend  of 
friends,  the  One  that  sticketh  closer  than  a 
brother!  Thou  hast  done  for  us  that  which 
none  other  hath  done,  that  which  none  other 
could  have  done.  Thou  art  unto  us  that  which 
none  other  is,  that  which  none  other  could  be. 
Of  Thee  did  the  prophet  speak  when  he  said: 
"And  a  man  shall  be  as  an  hiding  place  from 
the  wind  and  a  covert  from  the  tempest,  as 
streams  of  water  in  a  dry  place,  and  as  the 
shadow  of  a  great  rock  in  a  weary  land. ' ' 

And  now,  finally,  I  would  ask  you  to  note  that 
because  we  are  the  friends  of  Jesus  we  are  co- 
workers with  Him  here  on  earth.  This  is  al- 
luded to  in  the  words,  "Henceforth  I  call  you 
not  servants ;  for  the  servant  knoweth  not  what 
his  Lord  doeth :  but  I  have  called  you  friends ; 
for  all  things  that  I  have  heard  of  my  Father 
I  have  made  known  unto  you."  Jesus  does 
not  mean  to  deny  that  we  are  His  servants.  We 
are  such  and  like  Paul  we  should  glory  in  the 
fact.  He  does  mean  to  say,  however,  that  we 
are  not  mere  servants,  that  we  are  also  friends, 
and  as  such  coworkers  with  Himself.  The  dif- 
ference between  a  mere  servant  and  a  coworker 
is  not  that  the  one  works  harder,  or  is  sub- 
jected to  greater  privations,  than  the  other:  the 
difference  lies  in  the  fact  that  the  one  works 


224  Jesus  as  He  Was  and  Is 

in  ignorance  of  the  purposes  of  his  master,  and 
so  is  treated  as  a  mere  tool,  while  the  other  is 
permitted  to  share  the  thoughts  of  his  master, 
to  know  the  why  and  the  wherefore  of  what 
he  is  doing,  to  have  the  glad  consciousness  that 
he  is  furthering  an  end  with  which  he  is  in  full 
sympathy.  Let  us  rejoice  that  in  carrying  out 
His  purposes  Jesus  does  not  treat  us  as  mere 
servants,  that  He  permits  us  to  share  His  plans 
and  purposes,  and  thus  that  our  lives  are  dig- 
nified and  our  manhood  honored  by  being  treat- 
ed as  coworkers  with  Him.  Let  us  see  to  it 
that  we  prove  worthy  of  the  confidence  He  has 
reposed  in  us  and  let  us  strive  so  to  live  that 
Jesus  will  have  less  and  less  reason  to  be 
ashamed  of  His  friends. 


CHAPTER    THIRTEEN:    JESUS    AS 
JUDGE 


For  neither  doth  the  Father  judge  any  man,  but  he  hath 
given  all  judgment  unto  the  Son. 

— John  v :  22. 


And  he  charged  ua  to  preach  unto  the  people,  and  to  testify 
that  this  is  he  who  is  ordained  of  God  to  be  the  Judge  of  the 
living  and  the  dead.  — Acts  x:42. 


For  we  must  all  be  made  manifest  before  the  Judgment- 
seat  of  Christ;  that  each  one  may  receive  the  things  done  in 
the  body,  according  to  what  he  hath  done,  whether  it  be  good 
or  bad.  — II  Corinthians  v:  10. 


xm 


JESUS  AS  JUDGE 


THERE  are  few  subjects  concerning  which 
Jesus  speaks  more  frequently  or  at 
greater  length  than  the  subject  of  judg- 
ment. At  times  this  judgment  is  spoken  of  as 
subjective,  as  the  judgment  that  men  con- 
sciously or  unconsciously  pass  upon  themselves 
according  as  they  choose  the  good  or  the  bad. 
More  frequently,  however,  it  is  spoken  of  as  ob- 
jective, as  the  judgment  that  the  Judge  of  all 
passes  upon  men  according  as  they  choose  the 
good  or  the  bad.  At  times  it  is  spoken  of  as. 
taking  place  in  the  present,  as  a  continuous  pro- 
cess in  the  lives  of  individuals  and  of  nations. 
These  judgments  that  take  place  in  the  present, 
however,  are  recognized  as  partial  and  inade- 
quate, so  partial  and  inadequate  that  of  them- 
selves they  do  not  make  clear  that  God  is 
righteous  in  all  His  ways  and  holy  in  all  His 
works.  Hence  we  find  that  more  frequently  it 
is  spoken  of  as  a  future  judgment  that  will 

227 


228  Jesus  as  He  Was  and  Is 

take  place  at  the  end  of  the  world.  This  com- 
ing judgment  is  spoken  of  as  based  on  the  deeds 
done  in  the  body,  as  universal  in  its  scope,  as 
wholly  in  accord  with  the  demands  of  justice, 
as  the  final  and  complete  vindication  of  the 
righteousness  of  God. 

No  doubt  this  finds  its  explanation  in  the  in- 
tensely ethical  character  of  His  teaching,  in  the 
fact  that  for  Him  the  great  issues  of  life  are  its 
moral  issues.  Life  being  what  it  is,  a  mixture 
of  good  and  evil,  in  proportion  as  we  emphasize 
the  moral  and  ethical  will  we  feel  the  need  of 
emphasizing  the  thought  of  judgment,  and  espe- 
cially the  thought  of  a  coming  judgment  in 
which  the  wrongs  and  injustices  of  this  world 
will  be  righted.  There  is  nothing  surprising, 
therefore,  in  the  fact  that  Jesus  should  have 
spoken  so  frequently  and  at  such  length  on  this 
subject.  That  is  only  what  was  to  be  expected 
in  view  of  the  predominantly  ethical  character 
of  His  views  of  God,  of  man,  and  of  the  world. 

If  Jesus  had  done  no  more  than  emphasize  the 
thought  of  judgment,  and  particularly  of  a 
judgment  to  come,  He  would  not  have  differed 
essentially  in  this  respect  from  those  who  had 
preceded  Him.  For,  of  course,  this  thought 
of  a  judgment  that  culminates  in  a  final  judg- 
ment did  not  originate  with  Jesus.    It  was  al- 


Jesus  as  Judge  229 

ready  the  common  possession  of  all  religious 
systems.  No  doubt  we  are  warranted  in  saying 
that  there  is  less  of  the  gross  and  fantastic 
and  trivial  in  connection  with  His  utterances 
on  this  subject  than  in  connection  with  the  ut- 
terances of  those  who  preceded  Him.  We 
would  scarcely  be  warranted  in  saying  more, 
however,  were  it  not  for  the  fact  that  elements 
are  to  be  found  in  His  teaching  on  this  subject 
that  find  no  parallel  in  the  teachings  of  others. 

We  find  not  only  that  Jesus  emphasized  the 
thought  of  judgment,  we  find  that  He  taught 
that  in  himself  was  to  be  found  the  standard  by 
which  men  were  being  judged  and  by  which  they 
would  be  judged  at  the  last  day.  Others  had 
spoken  of  judgment,  but  none  before  and  none 
since,  among  the  sane  at  least,  have  spoken  of 
themselves  as  the  standard  of  judgment.  Un- 
less Jesus  was  absolutely  without  sin,  unless 
His  life  was  wholly  in  harmony  with  the  will 
of  God,  it  is  utterly  incredible  that  He  is  the 
standard  by  which  we  are  being  and  by  which 
we  will  be  judged.  Either,  therefore,  this  claim 
on  Jesus'  part  bears  witness  to  His  conscious- 
ness of  the  fact  that  He  was  without  sin  or  it 
bears  witness  to  the  fact  that  He  was  the  vic- 
tim of  a  disordered  mind. 

Still  further  we  find  not  only  that  Jesus  em- 


230  Jesus  as  He  Was  and  Is 

phasized  the  thought  of  a  coming  judgment, 
we  find  that  He  emphasized  the  fact  that  in 
that  coming  judgment  He  himself  will  be  the 
judge  and  that  as  such  He  will  assign  to  men 
their  eternal  destinies  according  as  they  have 
done  good  or  according  as  they  have  done  evil. 
No  more  tremendous  claim  was  put  forth,  or  in 
the  nature  of  the  case  could  have  been  put  forth, 
by  Jesus  than  this  claim  to  be  the  final  arbiter 
of  the  destiny  of  each  and  every  individual. 
And  yet  extraordinary  as  was  this  claim  on  the 
part  of  Jesus,  it  is  scarcely  more  extraordinary 
than  the  fact  that  the  early  Christian  commun- 
ity— many  of  whom  knew  Him  in  the  days  of 
His  flesh — should  have  accepted  Him  as  such. 
Nothing  is  more  indicative  of  the  profound  im-» 
pression  He  made  upon  them  than  this,  that 
they  believed  Him  even  when  He  claimed  to  be 
the  judge  of  the  world.  That  they  did  this  lies 
upon  the  surface  of  the  New  Testament ;  for,  of 
course,  the  New  Testament  bears  witness  not 
only  to  the  beliefs  of  those  who  wrote  it  but 
to  the  beliefs  of  the  Christian  community  as 
a  whole,  so  that  Paul,  for  instance,  speaks  not 
only  for  himself  but  for  the  early  Christian 
community  when  he  writes,  "We  must  all  ap- 
pear before  the  judgment-seat  of  Christ;  that 
each  one  may  receive  the  things  done  in  the 


Jesus  as  Judge  231 

body,  according  to  what  he  hath  done,  whether 
it  be  good  or  bad." 

Extraordinary,  however,  as  is  this  claim 
made  by  Jesus  and  admitted  by  the  early  Chris- 
tian community,  it  is  no  more  extraordinary 
than  some  of  the  other  claims  He  put  forth. 
Moreover,  it  is  in  full  harmony  with  them. 
Have  we  not  already  seen  that  He  centered 
attention  upon  himself  as  the  object  of  re- 
ligion, as  one  whom  men  should  worship,  trust 
and  obey? — a  thing  that  He  would  not  have 
been  warranted  in  doing,  if  His  rank  in  the 
scale  of  being  had  been  inferior  to  that  of  God 
himself. 

If  this  claim  to  be  the  judge  of  the  world 
stood  by  itself,  i.  e.,  unsupported  by  His  gen- 
eral career,  it  would  unquestionably  have  been 
rejected  by  His  contemporaries  just  as  cer- 
tainly as  it  would  be  rejected  by  us,  and 
ascribed  to  the  workings  of  a  disordered  mind ; 
but  seeing  that  it  is  part  and  parcel  of  His 
claims  as  a  whole,  it  is  evident  that  it  stands 
or  falls  with  the  validity  of  that  mass  of  evi- 
dence that  goes  to  justify  the  belief  that  in 
Jesus  we  have  to  do  with  a  divine  being  who 
became  incarnate  for  us  men  and  our  salvation. 
Deny  that  Jesus  was  and  is  a  divine  being  and 
it  is  utterly  incredible  that  He  will  occupy  the 


232  Jesus  as  He  Was  and  Is 

judgment-seat  in  the  last  day.  Admit  that  He 
was  and  is  such  an  one,  and  there  is  nothing  in- 
credible in  the  thought  that  we  as  well  as  others 
will  appear  before  the  judgment-seat  of  Christ 
either  to  hear  the  words,  ' '  Come  ye  blessed  of 
my  Father,  inherit  the  kingdom  prepared  for 
you  from  the  foundation  of  the  world, "  or  "  De- 
part from  me  ye  cursed  into  the  eternal  fire 
which  is  prepared  for  the  devil  and  his  angels. ' ' 
When  we  think  of  Jesus  as  the  standard  by 
which  men  are  being  judged,  and  more  espe^ 
cially  as  the  standard  by  which  they  will  be 
judged  in  the  last  day,  a  question  arises  as  to 
those  who  have  never  heard  of  Jesus.  Up  to 
the  present,  at  least,  the  vast  majority  of  the 
race  has  lived  and  died  in  ignorance  of  the  his- 
torical Christ.  How  then  can  they  be  judged 
by  this  standard?  Some  have  supposed  that 
these  will  be  judged  by  a  different  standard,  and 
hence  that  Jesus  will  be  the  standard  of  judg- 
ment only  for  those  who  have  known  Him  dur- 
ing their  earthly  lives.  The  Master  himself 
said :  ' '  That  servant,  who  knew  his  Lord 's  will, 
and  made  not  ready,  nor  did  according  to  His 
will,  shall  be  beaten  with  many  stripes ;  but  he 
that  knew  not,  and  did  things  worthy  of  stripes, 
shall  be  beaten  with  few  stripes.  And  to  whom- 
soever much  is  given,  of  him  shall  much  be  re- 


Jesus  as  Judge  233 

quired :  and  to  whom  they  commit  much,  of  him 
shall  they  ask  the  more."  (Luke  xii:47,  48.) 
Yet  while  the  language  of  Christ  and  His  Apos- 
tles warrants  the  notion  that  every  extenuating 
circumstance  will  be  taken  into  consideration  in 
that  day,  there  is  nothing  in  their  teachings 
that  even  hints  at  a  standard  of  judgment  other 
than  that  which  is  embodied  in  Jesus  himself. 

Others  have  supposed  that  those  who  have  re- 
mained in  ignorance  of  Christ  and  the  gospel  in 
this  life  will  be  brought  face  to  face  with  Him 
in  the  next  life,  preceding  the  final  judgment. 
Such  a  supposition,  however,  is  wholly  without 
scriptural  warrant.  Everywhere  we  are  taught 
that  the  final  judgment  is  based  on  the  deeds 
done  in  the  body.  Everywhere  we  are  taught 
that  the  here  determines  the  hereafter.  Every- 
where our  attention  is  centered  upon  the  pres- 
ent, and  nowhere  is  there  any  hint  that  the  judg- 
ment will  proceed  upon  any  other  basis  than  the 
present  life  of  man.  As  the  late  Principal  Sal- 
mond  said,  in  his  well-known  book,  The  Chris- 
tian Doctrine  of  Immortality:  " Christ's  own 
teachings  give  the  significance  of  finality  to 
the  moral  decisions  of  the  present  life. 
If  there  are  possibilities  of  change,  forgive- 
ness, relaxation  of  penalty,  or  cessation  of 
punishment  in  the  future  life,  His  words  at 


234  Jesus  as  He  Was  and  Is 

least  do  not  reveal  them.  He  never  softens  the 
awful  responsibilities  of  this  life  even  by  the 
dim  adumbration  of  such  possibilities.  His  re- 
corded sayings  nowhere  suggest  the  provision 
of  ministries  of  grace,  whether  new  or  contin- 
ued, in  the  after-existence.  They  nowhere  speak 
of  a  place  of  repentance  unto  life  in  another 
world.  They  nowhere  open  the  prospect  of 
remedial  discipline  in  the  disembodied  state,  or 
of  terminable  award  in  the  condition  which  fol- 
lows the  great  day.  They  bring  the  two  events, 
death  and  judgment,  into  relation,  and  give  no 
disclosure  of  an  intermediate  state  with  untold 
potentialities  of  Divine  love  and  human  sur- 
render. They  never  traverse  the  principle  that 
this  life  is  the  scene  of  opportunity,  and  this 
world  the  theater  of  human  fates"  (page  313). 

In  view  of  the  fact  that  there  is  no  hint  of 
another  standard  as  well  as  in  view  of  the  fact 
that  we  are  everywhere  taught  that  the  moral 
decisions  of  this  life  are  of  final  import,  it  is 
evident  that  those  who  die  in  ignorance  of 
Christ  will  also  be  judged  by  that  standard  that 
is  embodied  in  Jesus  Christ  and  on  the  basis 
of  the  deeds  done  in  the  body. 

When  we  think  of  Jesus  as  a  Saviour  as  well 
as  a  Judge,  a  question  arises  as  to  the  signifi- 
cance of  the  judgment  for  the  saved.     Some 


Jesus  as  Judge  235 

have  supposed  that  the  judgment  has  signifi- 
cance only  for  the  lost,  that  it  has  no  signifi- 
cance for  the  saved.  Do  we  not  read  in  John's 
Gospel,  "He  that  believeth  on  Him  is  not 
judged"?  And  do  we  not  read  in  Paul's  Epis- 
tle to  the  Romans,  "There  is  now  no  condem- 
nation to  them  that  are  in  Christ  Jesus"? 
And  does  not  Paul  in  the  same  epistle  exult- 
antly exclaim,  "Who  shall  lay  anything  to 
the  charge  of  God's  elect"?  If  God's  judg- 
ment on  the  believer  has  already  been  pro- 
nounced in  the  act  of  justification,  what  further 
place  is  there  for  acquittal  or  condemna- 
tion as  far  as  he  is  concerned?  Unquestion- 
ably the  final  judgment  will  not  have  the  same 
significance  for  the  saved  as  for  the  unsaved; 
and  yet  it  is  equally  unquestionable  that  all 
men,  irrespective  of  whether  they  are  among 
the  saved  or  the  unsaved,  will  be  judged  in  that 
day  according  to  the  deeds  done  in  the  body.- 
This  is  expressly  taught,  for  instance,  in  II 
Cor.  v :  9, 10,  where  the  context  makes  clear  that 
Paul  was  thinking  of  believers.  "Wherefore 
also  we  make  it  our  aim,  whether  at  home  or 
absent,  to  be  well-pleasing  unto  Him.  For  we 
must  all  be  made  manifest  before  the  judgment- 
seat  of  Christ;  that  each  one  may  receive  the 


236  Jesus  as  He  IF  as  and  Is 

tilings  done  in  the  body,  according  to  what  he 
hath  done,  whether  it  be  good  or  bad." 

We  are  not  to  suppose,  therefore,  that  the 
final  judgment  is  without  significance  for  us  be- 
cause we  are  believers,  or  that  the  principle  of 
retribution  embodied  in  the  words,  "Whatso- 
ever a  man  soweth,  that  shall  he  also  reap.  He 
that  soweth  unto  his  own  flesh  shall  of  the 
flesh  reap  corruption;  but  he  that  soweth  unto 
the  Spirit  shall  of  the  Spirit  reap  eternal  life" 
1 — has  no  application  to  us  because  we  are 
among  those  who  have  been  justified  through 
faith  in  Jesus  Christ. 

The  most  instructive  passage  in  the  New 
Testament  in  this  connection  is  I  Corinthians 
iii:ll-15:  "Other  foundation  can  no  man  lay 
than  that  which  is  laid,  which  is  Jesus  Christ. 
But  if  any  man  buildeth  on  the  foundation  gold, 
silver,  costly  stone,  wood,  hay,  stubble;  each 
man 's  work  shall  be  made  manifest :  for  the  day 
shall  declare  it,  because  it  is  revealed  in  fire; 
and  the  fire  itself  shall  prove  each  man's  work 
of  what  sort  it  is.  If  any  man's  work  shall 
abide  which  he  built  thereon,  he  shall  receive  a 
reward.  If  any  man's  work  shall  be  burned,  he 
shall  suffer  loss :  but  he  himself  shall  be  saved ; 
yet  so  as  through  fire."  Underlying  this  pas- 
sage is  the  thought  of  the  Christian  life  as  the 


Jesus  as  Judge  237 

erection  of  a  building  the  foundation  of  which 
has  already  been  laid.  With  the  laying  of  the 
foundation  we  ourselves  have  nothing  to  do. 
That  is  a  work  that  was  completed  some  nine- 
teen hundred  years  ago.  With  the  character  of 
the  building  we  erect  on  this  foundation,  how- 
ever, we  have  a  great  deal  to  do.  It  is  for  us 
to  say  whether  it  will  be  built  of  that  which 
may  be  likened  to  wood,  hay  and  stubble;  or 
that  which  may  be  likened  to  gold,  silver  and 
costly  stone.  The  passage  makes  clear,  more- 
over, that  these  lives  of  ours  will  one  day  be 
subjected  to  a  test  that  will  distinguish  as  un- 
erringly between  the  good  and  the  bad  in  them 
as  fire  is  able  to  distinguish  between  what  is 
built  of  wood,  hay  and  stubble  and  what  is 
built  of  gold,  silver  and  costly  stone.  Also  that 
the  reward  meted  out  to  us  in  that  day  will  be 
strictly  in  proportion  to  the  good  found  in  Our 
lives. 

This  passage  suggests,  moreover,  a  twofold 
contrast.  First,  between  those  who  build  their 
lives  on  Jesus  Christ  and  those  who  build  them 
on  a  foundation  other  than  Jesus  Christ.  Only 
the  former  will  be  saved,  seeing  that  there  is  no 
salvation  apart  from  Jesus,  though,  of  course, 
some  of  the  latter  will  be  beaten  with  more 
stripes  than  others.    Second,  between  two  sorts 


238  Jesus  as  He  Was  and  Is 

of  Christians,  between  those  who  build  on  the 
true  foundation  a  superstructure  that  is  com- 
posed of  what  may  be  likened  to  gold,  silver  and 
costly  stone,  and  those  who  build  on  this  same 
foundation  what  may  be  likened  to  wood,  hay, 
and  stubble.  Paul  affirms  that  both  shall  be 
saved  but  not  that  the  same  future  awaits  both. 
Judgment  will  be  for  the  one  what  fire  is  for 
the  man  whose  house  is  built  wholly  of  wood. 
He  himself  may  escape,  but  of  his  house  only  the 
ashes  remain  behind.  Judgment  will  be  for  the 
other  what  fire  is  for  the  man  whose  house  is 
built  wholly  of  stone.  While  his  neighbors  are 
mourning  their  loss  his  house  remains  intact. 
The  one  will  barely  be  saved;  the  other  will 
be  granted  an  abundant  entrance  into  the  King- 
dom of  God. 

Those  who  suppose  that  the  final  judgment 
has  no  significance  for  Christians  suppose  that 
all  the  saved  will  receive  the  same  reward.  Such 
is  not  the  teaching  of  Scripture.  There  will 
not  be  a  dead  level  of  uniformity  throughout 
heaven  any  more  than  there  is  a  dead  level  of 
uniformity  here.  Are  we  not  told  that  there 
are  those  who  are  greatest  and  those  who  are 
least  in  the  Kingdom  of  God?  Are  we  not  told 
that  as  one  star  differeth  from  another  star  in 
glory  so  shall  it  be  in  the  resurrection  of  the 


Jesus  as  Judge  239 

dead?  We  are  not  to  suppose  that  the  thief 
who  died  on  the  cross  will  receive  the  same  re- 
ward as  Paul  who  spent  his  life  in  the  service 
of  his  Master  and  of  his  fellow-men.  There  is 
such  a  thing  as  being  saved  and  no  more ;  and 
there  is  such  a  thing  as  entering  heaven  amid 
the  plaudits  of  angel  throngs.  The  point  that 
I  want  to  emphasize,  however,  is  not  so  much 
the  thought  that  there  will  be  differences  among 
the  redeemed  as  that  these  differences  will  be 
determined  by  the  deeds  done  in  the  body.  It  is 
indeed  true  that  by  the  deeds  of  the  flesh  no 
one  can  be  justified  in  His  sight,  and  yet  our 
position  among  the  justified  will  be  determined 
by  the  lives  we  live  on  earth.  As  Dr.  Forrest 
says :  ' '  It  is  neither  according  to  Scripture  nor 
to  moral  instinct  to  depict  the  final  judgment 
as  implying  that  all  in  whom  the  same  set  of 
character  exists  receive  an  equal  reward  or  pen- 
alty. It  is  strange  how  much  the  doctrine  of  a 
destiny  proportionate  to  the  measure  of  fidelity 
or  failure,  so  perpetually  on  our  Lord's  lips, 
has  become  a  'lost  theological  principle.'  It 
must  be  recovered,  if  we  are  to  bring  the  fun- 
damental conceptions  of  a  final  judgment  and 
a  final  kingdom  of  righteousness  into  relation 
with  the  moral  facts  of  life."  (Christ  and  His- 
tory, p.  367.) 


240  Jesus  as  He  Was  and  Is 

I  have  pointed  out  the  large  place  that  the 
thought  of  judgment  occupies  in  the  teaching  of 
Jesus.  I  have  pointed  out  that  He  differs  from 
others  in  this  respect  by  virtue  of  the  fact  that 
He  himself  is  both  the  Judge  and  the  standard 
of  Judgment.  I  have  pointed  out  also  that 
while  He  is  Saviour  as  well  as  Judge,  and  while 
this  modifies  matters  fundamentally,  yet  it  does 
not  alter  the  fact  that  all  men  must  appear  be- 
fore the  judgment-seat  of  Christ  to  be  judged 
according  to  the  deeds  done  in  the  body. 

Before  concluding  permit  me  to  remind  you 
that  because  Jesus  comes  before  us  as  Judge 
of  the  world  it  follows  that  He  has  an  absolute 
significance  for  us  and  for  all  men.  When 
Jesus  claimed  that  the  prophecies  of  the  Old 
Testament  found  fulfillment  in  himself  He 
made  a  tremendous  claim,  viz.:  that  all  Old 
Testament  history  led  up  to  and  terminated 
upon  himself:  but  great  as  was  that  claim  it 
shrinks  into  insignificance  as  compared  with 
the  claim  to  be  the  Judge  of  the  world,  for  this 
implies  that  the  history  of  the  world  as  a 
whole  finds  its  goal  in  His  own  person.  If 
Jesus  had  come  before  us  as  some  lesser  per- 
son we  might  suppose  that  while  He  has  signifi- 
cance for  some  yet  He  does  not  have  signifi- 
cance for  all;  or  we  might  suppose  that  while 


Jesus  as  Judge  241 

He  has  been  the  most  significant  of  persons,  yet 
the  time  may  come  when  mankind  will  have  so 
progressed  that  He  will  no  longer  have  that 
significance  that  is  now  ascribed  to  Him.  But 
seeing  that  it  is  Jesus  who  is  to  judge  the  world, 
there  is  no  escape  from  the  conclusion  that  He 
has  an  absolute  significance  not  only  for  those 
who  live,  or  who  have  lived,  but  also  for  all 
those  who  may  live  in  the  years  to  come.  At 
the  goal  of  human  history  stands  the  judgment- 
seat  of  Jesus  Christ.  Hence  no  matter  how 
much  the  race  may  progress  it  cannot  progress 
beyond  Him. 

Again,  because  Jesus  is  the  Judge  of  the 
world  there  must  be  a  side  to  His  character  that 
corresponds  to  this  function.  He  is  sometimes 
so  spoken  of  as  to  give  the  impression  that  He 
is  so  loving,  so  merciful,  so  tender-hearted, 
as  to  be  indifferent  to  sin.  Nothing  could  be 
less  in  accordance  with  the  fact.  It  is  true  that 
in  no  one  else  do  we  find  such  tenderness  to- 
ward the  sinner,  such  a  readiness  to  forgive 
those  who  repent  of  their  wrong;  but  at  the 
same  time  there  is  no  one  who  is  more  severe 
toward  sin,  no  one  who  is  less  willing  to  excuse 
those  who  continue  in  wrong-doing.  It  is  writ- 
ten of  Him,  "Thou  hast  loved  righteousness 
and  hated  iniquity,"  and  no  representation  of 


242  Jesus  as  He  Was  and  Is 

Jesus  that  leaves  His  hatred  of  iniquity  out  of 
consideration  conforms  to  reality.  In  other 
words,  Jesus  is  conscientious,  one  who  is  quick 
to  note  the  difference  between  good  and  evil, 
one  who  reacts  favorably  toward  the  one  and 
unfavorably  toward  the  other.  If  such  was  not 
the  case  He  would  not  be  fitted  to  act  as  Judge 
of  the  world ;  because  whatever  a  person  who  is 
lacking  in  conscientiousness  is  fitted  to  do  he  is 
not  fitted  to  act  as  judge.  The  mere  fact,  there- 
fore, that  Jesus  is  spoken  of  as  Judge  reminds 
us  that  His  tenderness  toward  sinners  must  not 
be  permitted  to  hide  from  us  His  severity 
against  sin.  We  may  be  sure  that  the  Judge 
of  all  the  earth  will  do  right.  In  order  that  He 
may  do  right  it  is  necessary  that  He  punish  the 
wicked  as  well  as  reward  the  righteous. 

Finally,  it  is  only  as  we  look  at  our  lives  in  the 
light  of  their  goal  that  we  can  realize  their 
value  as  well  as  the  significance  of  our  choices 
from  day  to  day.  No  doubt  the  thought  of  judg- 
ment is  fitted  to  fill  us  with  shame  in  our  hours 
of  sin  and  weakness,  but  at  the  same  time  it  is 
an  incentive  to  noble  effort.  Life  is  not  a 
mean,  obscure  thing.  It  may  be  unnoticed  of 
man  but  it  is  not  unnoticed  of  God.  Nothing 
in  our  lives  is  so  insignificant  as  to  escape 
Jesus.    By  that  which  we  do  from  day  to  day 


Jesus  as  Judge  243 

we  are  determining  our  eternal  destinies.  Do 
we  realize  this,  we  whose  lives  are  marred  by 
so  many  inconsistencies;  we  who  are  satisfied 
with  mediocrity  when  we  should  be  striving 
after  perfection ;  we  who  have  talents  for  serv- 
ice and  yet  permit  them  to  lie  unimproved;  we 
who  have  wealth  or  power  or  influence  but  who 
use  them  to  promote  our  own  advantages  rather 
than  the  good  of  our  fellows  or  the  cause  of 
our  Master?  Let  us  see  to  it  that  we  build 
on  the  one  true  foundation,  Jesus  Christ,  but 
let  us  not  forget  that  we  are  building  for  eter- 
nity as  well  as  time.  Let  us  see  to  it  that  we 
build  into  our  lives  that  which  can  be  likened 
to  gold,  silver  and  costly  stone,  that  which  will 
stand  the  test  of  Christ's  judgment.  Then  we 
will  be  among  those  who  will  not  be  ashamed 
before  Him  at  His  coming,  for  we  will  be  among 
those  to  whom  He  will  say:  "Well  done,  good 
and  faithful  servant.  Thou  hast  been  faithful 
over  a  few  things,  I  will  set  thee  over  many 
things;  enter  thou  into  the  joy  of  thy  Lord." 


CHAPTER  FOURTEEN:  JESUS  AND 
HIS  PLACE  IN  THE  COSMOS 


Who  is  the  image  of  the  invisible  God,  the  first-born  of  all 
creation;  for  in  him  were  all  things  created,  in  the  heavens 
and  upon  the  earth,  things  visible  and  things  invisible, 
whether  thrones  or  dominions  or  principalities  or  powers;  all 
things  have  been  created  through  him  and  unto  him;  and  he 
is  before  all  things  and  in  him  all  things  consist. 

—Colossians  i:  15-17. 


XIV 

JESUS  AND  HIS  PLACE  IN  THE  COSMOS 

IT  is  unquestionably  true  that  many  think 
too  meanly  of  Jesus.  It  is  clear  to  most 
of  us  that  this  is  true  in  the  case  of  the 
Unitarians,  and  all  such  as  suppose  that  Jesus 
differs  from  them  in  degree  but  not  in  kind.  It 
is  also  true,  however,  in  large  measure  of  many 
who  so  exalt  the  name  of  Jesus  that  they  see 
in  Him  their  Lord  and  Saviour.  This  finds  its 
explanation  in  the  fact  that  their  attention  is 
so  centered  on  the  relations  that  He  sustains 
to  men  as  to  be  more  or  less  unmindful  of  the 
relations  that  He  sustains  to  the  universe  as  a 
whole. 

It  is,  of  course,  true  that  the  Scriptures  throw 
the  emphasis  upon  the  relations  that  Jesus  sus- 
tains to  men — so  that  most  frequent  mention  is 
made  of  Him  as  Master,  Teacher,  Example, 
Saviour,  and  such  like — and  yet  they  never  sup- 
pose that  His  significance  is  confined  within 
such  limits  as  these.  They  constantly  assume, 
even  when  they  do  not  explicitly  assert,  that 

247 


248  Jesus  as  He  Was  and  Is 

He  sustains  relations  to  the  universe  as  a  whole, 
and  hence  that  we  do  not  think  of  Jesus  as 
highly  as  we  ought  to  think  unless  we  think  of 
Ilim  in  cosmical  terms. 

That  such  is  the  case  is  evident  to  every  ob- 
servant reader  of  the  New  Testament.  In  the 
prologue  to  John's  Gospel  we  read,  "In  the  be- 
ginning was  the  Word  and  the  Word  was  with 
God  and  the  Word  was  God.  All  things  were 
made  through  Him  and  without  Him  was  not 
anything  made  that  was  made. ' '  In  the  second 
chapter  of  Paul's  letter  to  the  Philippians  we 
read  of  Him  '  *  who  existing  in  the  form  of  God 
counted  not  the  being  on  an  equality  with  God 
a  thing  to  be  grasped;  but  made  himself  of  no 
reputation,  and  took  upon  Him  the  form  of  a 
servant,  and  was  made  in  the  likeness  of  men: 
and  being  found  in  fashion  as  a  man,  He  hum- 
bled himself,  and  became  obedient  unto  death, 
even  the  death  of  the  cross.  Wherefore  God 
also  hath  highly  exalted  Him,  and  given  Him 
a  name  which  is  above  every  name :  that  at  the 
name  of  Jesus  every  knee  should  bow,  of  things 
in  heaven,  and  things  in  earth,  and  things  under 
the  earth;  and  that  every  tongue  should  confess 
that  Jesus  Christ  is  Lord,  to  the  glory  of  God 
the  Father."  While  in  Paul's  epistle  to  the 
Colossians  (i:  15-17)  we  read  of  Him  "who  is 


Jesus  and  His  Place  in  the  Cosmos    249 

the  image  of  the  invisible  God,  the  first  born  of 
all  creation ;  for  in  Him  were  all  things  created, 
in  the  heavens  and  upon  the  earth,  things  vis- 
ible and  things  invisible,  whether  thrones  or 
dominions  or  principalities  or  powers;  all 
things  have  been  created  through  Him  and  unto 
Him;  and  He  is  before  all  things,  and  in  Him 
all  things  consist." 

Now  these  passages  do  not  stand  alone, 
though  no  doubt  they  are  the  ones  in  which  the 
thought  to  which  I  am  directing  your  attention 
finds  fullest  expression.  But  of  themselves 
they  warrant  the  notion  that  we  cannot  think 
too  highly  of  Jesus,  that  in  all  probability  our 
loftiest  thoughts  fail  to  do  Him  justice.  We 
need  but  remind  ourselves  of  some  of  the  prin- 
cipal thoughts  expressed  in  these  passages  to 
perceive  how  inadequate  many  of  our  thoughts 
concerning  Jesus  are.  We  are  told  that  He  is 
not  a  creature,  i.  e.,  He  is  not  indebted  to  an- 
other for  His  existence,  that  no  matter  how 
far  we  may  go  back  into  the  past  we  will  not 
find  a  time  when  He  was  not.  "In  the  begin- 
ning was  the  Word  and  the  Word  was  with  God 
and  the  Word  was  God."  We  are  told,  more- 
over, that  it  is  He  who  created  this  universe 
with  all  that  it  contains  of  things  visible  and 
invisible,  and  hence  that  not  only  the  physical 


250  Jesus  as  He  Was  and  Is 

universe  with  its  myriad  suns  and  stars  but 
that  all  forms  of  personal  life,  including  the 
most  potent  of  angelic  beings,  whether  they  be 
called  thrones  or  dominions  or  principalities  or 
powers,  as  well  as  man,  are  indebted  to  Him 
for  their  existence.  "All  things  have  been 
created  through  Him. "  "  Without  Him  was  not 
anything  made  that  was  made."  Still  further 
we  are  told  that  \'in  Him  all  things  consist  or 
hold  together, ' '  i.  e.,  He  is  immanent  in  the 
Universe  to-day,  upholding  it  by  His  power  and 
preserving  it  in  unity  so  that  it  remains  a 
cosmos  and  does  not  become  a  chaos.  Finally 
we  are  told  that  as  all  things,  visible  and  in- 
visible, had  their  source  in  Him  so  they  move 
toward  Him  as  their  final  goal.  Not  only  were 
all  things  created  "through  Him,"  they  were 
also  created  "unto  Him,"  so  that  He  is  the  last 
as  well  as  the  first,  the  end  as  well  as  the  be- 
ginning. 

Surely  it  is  evident  to  all  who  derive  their 
conception  of  Jesus  from  the  New  Testament 
that  we  think  too  meanly  of  Him  when  we  think 
of  Him  as  simply  the  Saviour  of  the  world 
and  the  Lord  and  Life  of  humanity.  No  doubt 
those  who  see  in  Jesus  the  Saviour  of  men  as 
well  as  their  rightful  Lord  and  King  have  laid 
hold  on  that  which  is  most  vital  to  them;  and 


Jesus  and  His  Place  in  the  Cosmos    251 

yet  it  is  by  no  means  a  matter  of  indifference 
whether  we  see  in  Jesus  at  the  same  time  the 
creator,  the  sustainer,  and  the  goal  of  the  uni- 
verse as  a  whole.  In  fact  the  more  clearly  we 
perceive  how  Jesus  functions  as  Saviour  and 
King,  the  more  evident  will  it  become  that  we 
would  not  be  warranted  in  ascribing  even  these 
functions  to  Him,  if  He  was  not  more  than  Sav- 
iour and  King.  In  other  words,  back  of  our 
conviction  that  Jesus  is  Saviour  and  King  there 
lies,  expressed  or  unexpressed,  the  thought  of 
these  wider  relations  that  He  sustains  to  the 
universe  as  a  whole.  Deny  these  wider  rela- 
tions and  only  those  who  fail  to  think  their  con- 
victions through  would  see  in  Jesus  the  Lord 
and  Saviour  of  the  world.  That  is  to  say,  just 
as  we  would  not  be  warranted  in  seeing  in 
Jesus  the  Regenerator  of  character,  if  we  did 
not  see  in  Him  more  than  a  teacher  and  exam- 
ple; so  we  would  not  be  warranted  in  seeing 
in  Him  our  Lord  and  Saviour,  if  we  did  not 
see  in  Him  the  One  who  upholds  and  directs  to 
its  destined  end  the  whole  universe  of  created 
things.  For  how  could  we  believe  that  Jesus 
is  our  Lord  and  Saviour,  in  the  sense  in  which 
the  New  Testament  teaches  that  He  is  such, 
unless  we  supposed  that  He  sustains  such  rela- 


252  Jesus  as  He  Was  and  Is 

tions  to  the  Cosmos  as  a  whole  as  the  New 
Testament  affirms? 

There  are  various  considerations  which  point 
to  the  need  of  our  thinking  of  Jesus  in  cosmical 
terms,  i.  e.,  as  One  who  sustains  vital  relations 
not  only  to  the  human  race  but  to  the  whole 
universe  of  created  things,  visible  and  invisible. 

In  the  first  place,  our  belief  in  the  Incarnation 
presupposes  tha't  Jesus  occupies  such  a  place 
in  the  Cosmos.  Christianity  as  the  redemptive 
religion,  it  is  needless  to  point  out  afresh, 
stands  or  falls  with  the  reality  of  the  Incarna- 
tion. Now  when  we  think  of  the  Incarnation,  we 
do  not  simply  think  of  the  birth  of  a  great  man 
in  whom  the  Divine  dwelt  as  it  dwells  in  no 
other,  or  even  of  the  coming  into  this  world 
of  some  mighty  one  who  had  previously  existed 
in  a  state  of  much  honor  and  power;  we  think 
rather  of  a  great  event  in  the  eternal  life  of 
God,  for  that  which  became  flesh  and  dwelt 
among  us,  according  to  Christian  faith,  was 
that  same  Word  which,  in  the  beginning,  was 
with  God  and  was  God.  Unless,  therefore,  we 
see  in  Jesus  One  whose  rank  in  the  scale  of 
being  places  Him  alongside  of  God  and  so  One 
who  occupies  a  place  in  the  universe  which  is 
the  same  as  that  which  God  occupies,  it  is  evi- 
dent that  we  cannot  believe  in  the  Incarnation 


Jesus  and  His  Place  in  the  Cosmos    253 

as  it  is  taught  in  the  New  Testament,  for  the 
thought  most  central  to  such  an  Incarnation  is 
the  thought  that  God  himself  in  the  person  of 
His  Son  assumed  the  flesh  of  our  humanity. 

It  follows,  in  the  second  place,  that  only  on 
the  assumption  that  Jesus  occupies  such  a 
place  in  the  cosmos  are  we  warranted  in  assign- 
ing Him  that  place  in  religion  that  Christianity 
assigns  Him.  In  the  opening  chapter  of  this 
book  I  pointed  out  that  Christianity  looks  upon 
Jesus  as  the  object  of  religion,  and  so  as  One 
whom  we  should  worship  and  obey.  If  Chris- 
tianity saw  in  Jesus  simply  a  subject  of  re- 
ligion there  would  be  no  occasion  for  our  think- 
ing of  Him  in  cosmical  terms:  in  fact  there 
would  be  no  occasion  for  our  thinking  of  Him 
in  terms  other  than  those  that  we  employ  when 
thinking  of  any  great  man.  It  is  evident,  how- 
ever, that  we  are  not  warranted  in  regarding 
Him  as  the  object  of  religion  unless  it  be  true 
that  He  occupies  a  position  in  the  universe  that 
admits  of  our  calling  Him  God,  for  otherwise 
we  are  rendering  to  a  creature  that  homage  and 
adoration  that  belongs  to  God  only.  In  other 
words,  our  whole  attitude  as  Christians  toward 
Jesus  has  its  roots  in  the  conviction  that  He 
sustains  relations  not  only  to  mankind  but  to 
the  universe  as  a  whole  with  all  that  it  con- 


254  Jesus  as  He  Was  and  Is 

tains,  visible  and  invisible.  That  is  to  say,  as 
intimated  above,  we  are  warranted  in  seeing  in 
Jesus  the  Lord  and  Saviour  of  men  only  be- 
cause we  see  in  Him  one  who  is  infinitely  more 
than  the  Lord  and  Saviour  of  men — because  we 
see  in  Him  one  who  is  the  Lord  and  Ruler  of 
the  universe  as  a  whole  and  so  One  who  can 
say  with  truth,  ' '  All  authority  hath  been  given 
unto  Me  in  heaven  and  on  earth." 

In  the  third  place,  that  Jesus  occupies  such  a 
place  in  the  cosmos  is  the  presupposition  of 
Christianity's  claim  to  be  the  final  and  perfect 
religion.  If  we  suppose  that  Jesus  occupies 
some  lesser  place  in  the  universe  we  would 
not,  as  has  just  been  pointed  out,  be  warranted 
in  regarding  Him  as  the  object  of  religion.  If, 
however,  we  see  in  Him  simply  a  subject  of  re- 
ligion, i.  e.,  simply  the  first  Christian,  we  would 
have  no  assurance  of  the  finality  of  the  Chris- 
tian religion.  In  that  case  it  were  conceivable 
that  as  Moses  and  the  prophets  were  surpassed 
by  Jesus  so  Jesus  may  be  surpassed,  and  hence 
that  Christianity  is  only  possessed  of  tempor- 
ary significance.  Such  a  supposition,  however, 
is  inconceivable  if  we  see  in  Jesus  the  object  of 
religion,  for  in  that  case  the  universe  contains 
nothing  higher  than  He  and  hence  the  religion 
that  centers  in  Him  is  necessarily  the  final  and 


Jesus  and  His  Place  in  the  Cosmos    255 

absolute  religion.  This  thought  is  common  to 
the  writers  of  the  New  Testament.  It  is  in  the 
Epistle  to  the  Hebrews,  however,  that  it  finds 
fullest  expression.  The  author  argues  that  the 
Christian  religion  is  the  final  and  perfect  re- 
ligion because  of  the  superiority  of  Jesus  to  all 
previous  as  well  as  all  possible  organs  of  reve- 
lation. If  Jesus  was  but  a  creature  it  were  con- 
ceivable that  the  religion  He  perfected  should 
be  still  further  perfected  and  so,  in  a  sense, 
superseded  by  another  and  more  perfect  re- 
ligion ;  but  Jesus  being  what  He  is  ' '  the  efful- 
gence of  God's  glory  and  the  very  image  of  His 
substance,  the  One  also  who  made  the  worlds 
and  who  upholds  all  things  by  the  word  of  His 
power, ' '  it  is  inconceivable  that  such  should  be 
the  case. 

In  the  fourth  place,  it  is  needful  that  we 
keep  in  mind  the  relations  that  Jesus  sustains 
to  the  cosmos  as  a  whole  in  order  that  we  may 
rightly  conceive  the  relations  that  exist  be- 
tween nature  and  grace;  or  to  express  it  dif- 
ferently, between  science  and  faith, between  gen- 
eral revelation  and  special  revelation.  To  per- 
ceive that  Jesus  is  Creator  and  Sustainer  as 
well  as  Saviour  is  to  perceive  that  these  have 
the  same  roots  and  hence  that  the  relation  exist- 
ing between  them  is  organic  rather  than  me- 


256  Jesus  as  He  Was  and  Is 

chanical.  That  is  to  say,  grace  has  not  been 
added  to  nature  or  special  revelation  to  general 
revelation  as  house  is  added  to  house  in  the 
building  of  a  city :  rather  grace  has  been  added 
to  nature  and  special  revelation  to  general  reve- 
lation as  the  scion  from  the  good  olive  tree  is 
added  to  the  wild  olive  tree  into  which  it  is 
grafted.  Just  as  the  good  olive  tree  presup- 
poses the  wild  olive  tree,  so  grace  presupposes 
nature  and  special  revelation  general  revela- 
tion. And  just  as  the  wild  olive  tree  needs  the 
graft  from  the  good  olive  tree,  so  nature  needs 
grace,  and  general  revelation  needs  special 
revelation.  If  sin  had  not  entered  into  this 
world  we  may  believe  that  there  would  be  no 
wild  olive  trees  and  hence  no  need  of  any  such 
being  grafted  with  a  graft  from  a  good  olive 
tree,  and  so  if  sin  had  not  entered  this  world 
there  would  have  been  no  need  for  grace  and 
special  revelation.  But  sin  having  entered, 
grace  and  special  revelation  were  needed  if 
God's  purposes  concerning  man  were  to  be 
realized.  Nature  and  grace,  general  revelation 
and  special  revelation,  therefore,  are  not  to  be 
conceived  of  as  independent,  still  less  as  an- 
tagonistic entities.  They  are  related  vitally 
and  organically;  and  that  they  are  thus  related 
is  grounded  ultimately  in  the  fact  that  Jesus  is 


Jesus  and  His  Place  in  the  Cosmos    257 

the  source  and  head  both  of  the  kingdom  of 
nature  and  the  kingdom  of  grace. 

It  follows  that  there  can  be  no  real  contradic- 
tion between  science  and  faith,  i.  e.,  between 
what  we  learn  from  the  study  of  nature  and 
that  which  comes  to  us  through  special  revela- 
tion, seeing  that  Jesus  is  the  author  of  both.  No 
doubt  there  may  be  a  real  contradiction  between 
certain  interpretations  of  nature  and  the  con- 
tents of  faith,  and  no  doubt  there  may  be  a  real 
contradiction  between  certain  interpretations  of 
the  contents  of  faith  and  what  is  learned  from 
the  study  of  nature ;  but  in  view  of  the  fact  that 
Jesus  is  the  author  of  both  it  is  evident  that, 
when  both  are  rightly  interpreted,  there  can  be 
no  contradiction  between  them.  Those  who 
perceive  that  Jesus  is  Creator  as  well  as  Sav- 
iour will  not  be  in  constant  fear  lest  discoveries 
in  science  may  disprove  the  contents  of  special 
revelation.  They  may  be  fearful  lest  men 
through  false  interpretations  of  nature  be  led 
to  reject  the  contents  of  Christian  faith,  but 
they  are  certain  that  ultimately  it  will  be  clear 
to  all  that  no  contradiction  exists  between 
true  science  and  true  faith.  Unquestionably, 
for  instance,  there  is  a  contradiction  between 
Materialism  or  Naturalism  and  Christian  faith, 
but  that  is  due,  we  believe,  to  the  fact  that 


258  Jesus  as  He  Was  and  Is 

neither  Materialism  nor  Naturalism  is  a  cor- 
rect interpretation  of  nature,  and  not  to  the  fact 
that  there  is  a  contradiction  between  nature 
rightly  interpreted  and  the  teachings  of  Christ 
and  His  Apostles. 

In  the  fifth  place,  it  is  needful  for  us  to  keep 
in  mind  these  relations  that  Jesus  sustains  to 
the  cosmos  in  order  that  we  may  be  led  to  as- 
sume the  proper  attitude  toward  this  world  and 
its  activities.  If  we  think  of  Jesus  exclusively 
as  related  to  humanity,  the  tendency  will  be 
strong  within  us  to  suppose  that  He  came  into 
the  world  to  save  individuals  out  of  the  world 
rather  than  to  save  the  world  itself.  In  that 
case  it  is  almost  inevitable  that  we  will  under- 
estimate the  earthly  spheres  of  art  and  science, 
of  literature  and  politics,  of  domestic  and  social 
economy,  and  that  we  will  join  hands  with  those 
who  say  that "  to  be  converted  and  then  go  forth 
to  convert  others"  is  practically  the  whole  of 
Christian  duty.  No  doubt  it  is  better  that  we 
should  neglect  this  world  and  its  activities  than 
that  we  should  neglect  Jesus  and  His  gospel. 
Unquestionably  if  we  had  to  choose  between 
being  mere  secularists,  mere  worldlings,  and 
being  monks  and  nuns,  it  would  be  the  part  of 
wisdom  to  take  our  stand  with  the  monks  and 
nuns.    ' '  For  the  things  which  are  seen  are  tern- 


Jesus  and  His  Place  in  the   Cosmos    259 

poral;  but  the  things  which  are  not  seen  are 
eternal. ' '  We  are,  however,  under  no  necessity 
of  making  such  a  choice.  This  world  is  not  evil 
in  itself.  Jesus  himself  created  it.  Moreover, 
His  prayer  for  His  disciples  was  not  that  they 
should  be  taken  out  of  the  world  but  that  they 
should  be  kept  from  the  evil  in  the  world.  Still 
further  the  object  of  Christ's  saving  work  was 
not  simply  individuals,  it  was  humanity  itself 
together  with  the  world  humanity  inhabits. 
Hence  He  contemplates  the  saving  of  the  world 
itself,  and  His  task  will  not  have  been  fully  done 
until  "the  creation  itself  shall  be  delivered 
from  the  bondage  of  corruption. ' '  With  all  its 
sin  "the  earth  is  the  Lord's  and  the  fulness 
thereof."  Hence  our  watchword  as  Christians 
should  not  be  separation  from  the  world  but 
only  from  that  which  is  evil  in  the  world.  We 
are  indeed  spoken  of  as  pilgrims  in  this  world, 
but  we  are  pilgrims  with  many  tasks  to  perform 
ere  we  leave  it.  Moreover,  we  are  to  remember 
that  this  world  belongs  to  our  Lord  and  Saviour 
and  that  it  is  our  privilege  to  enjoy  its  bless- 
ings with  thanksgiving.  "For  all  things  are 
yours ;  whether  Paul,  or  Apollos,  or  Cephas,  or 
the  world,  or  life,  or  death,  or  things  present, 
or  things  to  come;  all  are  yours;  and  ye  are 


260  Jesus  as  He  Was  and  Is 

Christ's     and     Christ     is     God's."     (I    Cor. 
ill:  21-23.) 

There  is  need  of  emphasizing  this  thought, 
not  because  our  age  is  over-ascetic — it  is  not — 
but  because  the  notion  prevails  in  some  quar- 
ters that  at  heart  Christianity  is  an  ascetic  re- 
ligion and  that  it  is  only  by  a  happy  inconsist- 
ency that  Christian  men  and  women  take  an 
active  interest  in  art,  literature,  business,  sci- 
ence, politics  and  such  like.  Such  a  notion  is 
wholly  ungrounded  and  we  may  be  sure  will  find 
no  place  in  the  thoughts  of  those  who  realize 
that  Jesus  is  the  Creator  of  the  world  as  well 
as  its  Saviour.  Such  will  find  no  fault  with 
Harnack — however  much  they  may  differ  with 
him  in  other  respects — when  he  says :  *  'If  Chris- 
tianity has  no  goal  to  set  before  this  life ;  if  it 
transfers  everything  to  a  Beyond ;  if  it  declares 
all  earthly  blessings  to  be  valueless,  and  points 
exclusively  to  a  world-shunning  and  contempla- 
tive life,  it  is  an  offense  to  all  energetic,  nay, 
ultimately,  to  all  true  natures ;  for  such  natures 
are  certain  that  our  faculties  are  given  us  to  be 
employed,  and  that  the  earth  is  assigned  to 
us  to  be  cultivated  and  subdued."  {What  is 
Christianity,  p.  80.) 

And  now  finally,  in  view  of  all  that  has  been 
said,  it  is  evident  not  only  that  we  cannot  think 


Jesus  and  His  Place  in  the  Cosmos    261 

too  highly  of  Jesus  but  that  our  confidence  in 
Him  is  not  misplaced.  We  may  be  sure  that 
He  will  fulfill  His  promises  and  that  it  will  be 
unto  us  as  He  has  said.  If  He  were  some  lesser 
person  it  were  conceivable  that  His  words 
should  fail  of  realization,  but  being  what  He  is 
it  is  inconceivable  that  such  should  be  the  case. 
In  proportion  as  we  share  Paul's  exalted  con- 
ception of  Jesus  Christ  in  that  proportion  will 
we  realize  how  fully  warranted  He  was  in  say- 
ing, as  he  stood  face  to  face  with  death,  "I 
know  Him  whom  I  have  believed,  and  I  am 
persuaded  that  He  is  able  to  guard  that  which 
I  have  committed  unto  Him  against  that  day." 
1 '  Faithful  is  He  that  calleth  you,  who  will  also 
doit." 


CHAPTER     FIFTEEN:     JESUS     AS 
THE    COMING    ONE 


This  Jesus,  who  was  received  up  from  you  into  heaven,  shall 
so  come  in  like  manner  as  ye  beheld  him  going  into  heaven. 

— Acts  i:  11. 


For  the  grace  of  God  hath  appeared,  bringing  salvation  to 
all  men,  instructing  us,  to  the  intent  that,  denying  ungodliness 
and  worldly  lusts,  we  should  live  soberly  and  righteously  and 
godly  in  this  present  world;  looking  for  the  blessed  hope  and 
appearing  of  the  glory  of  our  great  God  and  Saviour  Jesus 
Christ;  who  gave  himself  for  us,  that  he  might  redeem  us 
from  all  iniquity,  and  purify  unto  himself  a  people  for  his 
own  possession,  zealous  of  good  works. 

—Titus  ii :  11-14. 


But  of  that  day  or  that  hour  knoweth  no  one,  not  even  the 
angels  in  heaven,  neither  the  Son,  but  the  Father. 

— Mark  xiii :  32. 


XV 


JESUS  AS   THE   COMING  ONE 

I  AM  going  to  speak  to-day  concerning  a  sub- 
ject of  which,  in  the  nature  of  the  case,  we 
have  no  trustworthy  information — unless 
it  be  that  God  has  revealed  unto  us  that  among 
the  events  that  lie  in  the  future  is  the  coming 
again  of  Jesus  Christ.  If  then  I  were  speaking 
to  those  who  deny  that  the  Bible  contains  a 
supernatural  revelation,  it  would  be  necessary 
for  me  to  prove  that  the  Bible  contains  such  a 
revelation,  and  that  as  such  it  is  an  authority 
concerning  things  to  come,  before  I  could  hope 
to  convince  you  that  among  the  things  to  come 
is  the  coming  again  of  Jesus  Christ.  Inasmuch, 
however,  as  I  am  speaking  to  those  who  accept 
the  Bible  as  the  word  of  God,  and  so  as  an 
authority  concerning  things  to  come  no  less 
than  concerning  things  that  have  been,  I  am 
spared  this  necessity  and  need  only  seek  to  in- 
dicate what  the  Scriptures  make  known  con- 
cerning this  event. 

265 


266  Jesus  as  He  Was  and  Is 

I  am  well  aware  that  much  difference  of 
opinion  exists  as  to  just  what  has  been  revealed 
concerning  this  event.  It  should  be  noted,  how- 
ever, that  among  those  who  accept  the  Bible  as 
the  word  of  God  this  difference  of  opinion  com- 
monly has  to  do  with  the  events  that  are  to 
precede  or  follow  the  return  of  our  Lord  rather 
than  with  the  question  whether  Jesus  is  really 
coming  again.  The  idea  of  Jesus  as  the  Com- 
ing One  is  so  clearly  expressed  in  the  Scrip- 
tures, is  taught  so  explicitly  and  so  repeatedly, 
that  there  is  really  no  room  for  choice  between 
denying  that  they  contain  an  authoritative  rev- 
elation from  God  and  affirming  that  among  the 
events  to  be  looked  for  in  the  future  is  the  com- 
ing again  of  Jesus  Christ.  While  then  it  is  im- 
possible to  discuss  this  subject  without  contro- 
verting opinions  that  are  held  by  earnest  Chris- 
tians, we  should  at  least  remember  that  there 
is  practically  no  dispute  about  the  question 
whether  Jesus  will  return.  Those  who  are 
taught  of  the  Scriptures,  and  who  in  their 
thinking  go  where  the  word  of  God  goes,  tell  us 
with  one  voice  that  our  attitude  should  ever  be 
that  of  those  who  "look  for  the  blessed  hope 
and  the  glorious  appearing  of  our  great  God 
and  Saviour  Jesus  Christ. ' ' 

No  doubt  there  are  those  who  confess  belief 


Jesus  as  the  Coming   One  267 

in  the  return  of  Jesus  who  attach  but  little  prac- 
tical significance  to  this  item  in  their  creed.  In 
this,  however,  they  differ  much  from  those  who 
wrote  the  New  Testament.  We  find  that  they 
mention  it  considerably  over  three  hundred 
times.  Moreover,  we  find  that  they  mention  it 
as  an  integral  part  of  the  Christian  scheme  of 
tilings  so  that  it  is  impossible  to  leave  it  out 
of  consideration,  or  even  place  it  in  the  back- 
ground of  our  thoughts,  and  still  hold  to  a 
Christian  view  of  the  future.  Further  we  find 
that  the3f  advance  the  thought  of  our  Lord's  re- 
turn as  one  of  the  chief  incentives  to  watchful- 
ness and  fidelity  and  holy  living.  It  is  not  only 
occasionally  that  they  do  this ;  they  do  it  con- 
stantly. No  motive  is  more  frequently  ap- 
pealed to  in  the  New  Testament  than  the 
thought  of  our  Lord's  return.  Certainly  the 
New  Testament  is  on  the  side  of  those  who  make 
much  of  the  second  coming. 

Now  it  seems  to  me  that  before  we  can  prop- 
erly appreciate  what  the  Scriptures  teach  con- 
cerning this  subject,  we  must  eliminate  from 
our  minds  the  notion  that  Jesus  is  to  return  to 
this  earth  to  set  up  a  visible  kingdom  and  reign 
personally  and  corporeally.  Associated  with 
this  notion  is  the  idea  that  only  the  saints  will 
be  resurrected  at  the  second  coming  of  Christ 


268  Jesus  as  He  Was  and  Is 

and  that  they  will  be  associated  with  Him  in 
what  is  called  His  millennial  reign,  since  it  is 
supposed  that  through  this  personal,  corporeal 
reign  of  Christ  and  His  saints  the  Jews  will  be 
converted,  the  forces  of  evil  held  in  check  and 
the  so-called  millennium  ushered  in. 

I  know  that  this  view  is  quite  widely  held  by 
earnest  Christians ;  and  yet  it  seems  to  me  clear 
not  only  that  it  is  without  Scriptural  warrant, 
but  that  it  stands  opposed  both  to  what  the 
Scriptures  teach  concerning  the  spirituality  of 
Christ 's  kingdom  and  what  they  teach  concern- 
ing the  events  that  are  to  accompany  the  re- 
turn of  our  Lord. 

As  far  as  this  whole  notion  claims  express 
Scriptural  warrant  it  rests  upon  the  opening 
verses  of  the  twentieth  chapter  of  the  book  of 
Revelation.  I  am  far  from  supposing  that  the 
mere  fact  that  it  rests  on  a  single  passage  in 
so  difficult  a  book  as  the  book  of  Revelation 
constitutes  good  reason  for  rejecting  it.  If  this 
passage  really  teaches  a  personal,  corporeal 
reign  of  Christ  and  His  saints  on  earth  then 
we  ought  to  look  forward  to  such  a  reign,  no 
matter  how  difficult  we  may  find  it  to  reconcile 
it  with  what  the  Scriptures  teach  elsewhere 
— in  fact  we  must  do  so  unless  we  are  ready  to 
confess  that  Scripture  may  contradict  Scrip- 


Jesus  as  the  Coming  One  269 

ture.  But  my  conviction  is  that,  when  properly 
interpreted,  this  passage  does  not  teach  a  per- 
sonal and  corporeal  reign  of  Christ  and  His 
saints  on  earth  preceding  the  final  consumma- 
tion. 

It  is  beside  my  purpose  to  endeavor  to  ex- 
pound in  detail  this  difficult  passage.  I  think 
the  most  probable  interpretation  is  that  it  has 
to  do  with  the  condition  of  those  who  die  in 
the  Lord  preceding  the  second  coming;  and 
hence  that  the  thousand  years  of  this  passage 
is  the  intermediate  period  between  the  first 
and  the  second  Advents  looked  at  from  the 
standpoint  of  the  blessed  dead.  All  I  am  con- 
cerned to  do  is  to  point  out  that  at  least  it  does 
not  teach  the  notion  of  a  millennial  reign  of 
Christ  and  His  saints  on  earth — or,  for  that 
matter,  an  earthly  millennium  of  any  sort.  That 
may  be  made  plain  by  a  single  consideration. 
Those  who  participate  in  this  reign  are  spoken 
of  as  mere  "souls."  "And  I  saw  the  souls  of 
them  that  had  been  beheaded  for  the  testimony 
of  Jesus  and  for  the  word  of  God  *  *  *  and 
they  lived  and  reigned  with  Christ  a  thousand 
years."  That  is  to  say,  those  who  are  here 
spoken  of  as  living  and  reigning  with  Christ 
are  spoken  of  as  disembodied  souls ;  and  hence 
whatever  be  the  meaning  of  this  passage,  it  at 


270  Jesus  as  He  Was  and  Is 

least  does  not  mean  that  at  His  second  coming 
Christ  will  establish  a  material  kingdom  over 
which  He  and  His  saints  will  reign  corporeally. 

Not  only  is  this  notion  without  Scriptural 
warrant;  it  is  opposed  by  all  that  the  Scrip- 
tures teach  concerning  the  spirituality  of 
Christ's  kingdom.  If  the  Scriptures  taught 
that  it  was  Christ's  purpose  to  establish  an 
external  kingdom,  with  a  central  place  of  au- 
thority on  earth  like  Jerusalem,  then  we  might 
suppose  in  harmony  with  this  that  Christ  is 
coming  back  to  this  world  for  the  purpose  of 
setting  up  this  kingdom.  But  inasmuch  as  we 
are  everywhere  taught  that  He  came  to  estab- 
lish a  spiritual  kingdom — witness  His  own 
words,  "My  kingdom  is  not  of  this  world,"  as 
well  as  Paul's  words,  "The  kingdom  of  God  is 
not  meat  and  drink  but  righteousness  and  peace 
and  joy  in  the  Holy  Ghost"— it  would  be  hard 
indeed  to  save  the  Scriptures  from  the  charge 
of  self-contradiction  if  at  the  same  time  they 
taught  that  Christ  is  to  return  to  set  up  and 
rule  over  a  material  kingdom. 

It  is  equally  evident  that  this  notion  is  out 
of  harmony  with  what  the  Scriptures  teach  con- 
cerning the  events  that  are  to  accompany  the 
second  coming.  The  notion  we  are  considering 
assumes  that  only  the  saints  will  bo  resurrected 


Jesus  as  the  Coming  One  271 

and  judged  at  the  time  of  Christ's  return.  If, 
however,  we  leave  out  of  consideration  for  the 
moment  the  passage  in  the  twentieth  chapter  of 
the  book  of  Eevelation — a  passage  that  some 
mistakenly  suppose,  it  seems  to  me,  to  teach 
the  notion  of  two  resurrections,  the  one  of  the 
righteous,  the  other  of  the  wicked — we  find  that 
the  Scriptures  know  only  one  resurrection  and 
one  judgment,  and  that  this  resurrection  and 
judgment  embraces  the  whole  race  irrespective 
of  whether  they  have  done  good  or  ill.  We 
find,  moreover,  that  the  Scriptures  teach  that 
this  resurrection  and  judgment  is  to  take  place 
at  the  time  of  Christ's  return.  Still  further 
we  find  that  all  three  of  these  events,  i.  e.,  the 
second  coming,  the  general  resurrection  and  the 
final  judgment,  are  connected  with  the  end  of 
the  present  world-period  and  so  with  the  time 
when  Christ  himself  shall ' '  deliver  up  the  king- 
dom to  God,  even  the  Father."  What  the 
Scriptures  teach,  therefore,  is  not  that  Christ 
is  to  return  to  set  up  an  earthly  kingdom  with 
Himself  as  King  and  with  His  Apostles  and 
risen  saints  as  governors  and  magistrates  and 
such  like ;  but  that  He  is  to  return  to  raise  the 
dead,  to  sit  in  judgment,  to  assign  to  men  their 
eternal  destinies. 
I  have  endeavored  to  make  clear  not  only  that 


272  Jesus  as  He   IF  as  and  Is 

the  notion  of  millennial  reign  of  Christ  and 
His  saints  on  earth  preceding  the  final  consum- 
mation is  wit!  1  out  Scriptural  warrant,  but  that 
it  stands  opposed  both  to  what  the  Scriptures 
teach  concerning  the  spirituality  of  Christ's 
kingdom  and  what  they  teach  concerning  the 
purpose  for  which  He  is  to  return.  I  have  done 
this,  in  the  first  place,  because  it  seems  to  me 
that  what  prevents  many  from  rightly  under- 
standing what  the  Scriptures  teach  concerning 
this  whole  subject  is  the  fact  that  they  approach 
them  with  the  assumption  that  there  is  to  be  a 
millennial  reign  of  Christ  and  His  saints  suc- 
ceeding the  return  of  our  Lord.  And,  of  course, 
as  long  as  they  do  this,  it  is  inevitable  that  it 
will  influence  their  interpretation  of  all  those 
passages  that  have  to  do  with  the  future. 

I  have  done  this,  in  the  second  place,  because 
I  think  that  it  is  much  to  be  regretted,  from 
a  practical  point  of  view,  that  any  should  hold 
to  the  pre-millennial  view  of  our  Lord's  return. 
The  difference  between  those  who  accept  and 
those  who  reject  the  pre-millennial  view  of 
Christ's  return  is  no  doubt  comparatively  small 
as  compared  with  the  difference  between  those 
who  accept  and  those  who  reject  the  thought  of 
His  return.  Moreover,  I  am  glad  to  confess 
that  among  the  advocates  of  Pre-millennialism 


Jesus  as  the  Coming  One  273 

are  to  be  found  not  only  some  profoundly  spir- 
itual men  but  some  of  our  most  earnest  and  ef- 
fective Christian  workers.  At  the  same  time 
I  am  far  from  thinking  it  a  matter  of  no  prac- 
tical importance  whether  we  accept  or  reject 
this  view.  In  the  first  place,  it  seems  to  me 
that  the  pre-millennial  view  of  Christ's  return 
involves  a  wrong  conception  of  what  Christ  ex- 
pects to  accomplish  through  the  preaching  of 
the  Gospel  in  the  present  dispensation.  Ac- 
cording to  this  view  the  Gospel  is  preached  in 
the  present  dispensation  only  as  a  " testimony' ' 
or  "witness"  to  the  world.  It  is  not  expected 
that  through  the  preaching  of  the  Gospel  any 
permanent  betterment  of  this  world  is  to  be 
brought  about.  This  can  be  brought  about  only 
through  the  return  of  Christ  and  the  visible 
reign  of  Him  and  His  saints.  Little  more  is 
to  be  accomplished  through  the  preaching  of 
the  Gospel  than  the  completion  of  the  body  of 
Christ,  the  filling  up  of  the  number  of  those 
who  are  to  be  associated  with  Him  in  His  mil- 
lennial reign.  As  a  result  Pre-millennialists 
are  pessimistic  in  their  judgment  concerning 
this  world  as  it  now  is.  I  do  not  merely  mean 
that  they  think  this  world  far  from  being  what 
it  ought  to  be,  but  that  they  think  that  it  is  con- 
stantly growing  worse,  that  they  despair  of  any 


274  Jesus  as  He  Was  and  Is 

permanent  progress  by  present  methods,  and 
that  they  believe  that  the  only  hope  of  the 
world  lies  in  the  personal  advent  of  Christ. 
They  have  little  or  no  appreciation  of  the  bene- 
fits of  civilization.  It  is  only  by  being  incon- 
sistent that  they  can  take  any  deep  interest  in 
social  reform.  The  general  tendency  of  the 
movement  is  in  the  direction  of  saying  that  the 
whole  of  duty  is  first  to  get  converted  ourselves 
and  then  go  forth  to  convert  others,  in  forget- 
fulness  of  the  fact  that  Christ  came  to  save  this 
world  itself  and  not  simply  individuals  out  of 
this  world,  and  so  in  forgetfulness  of  the  fact 
that  the  artist,  the  scientist,  the  philosopher,  the 
educator  and  the  statesman — the  common  citi- 
zen and  day  laborer  also — have  a  God-ordained 
task  to  perform  no  less  than  the  gospel-worker. 
I  now  desire  to  indicate  as  briefly  as  possible 
what  has  been  revealed  concerning  the  great 
event  that  awaits  us  in  the  future.  In  the  first 
place,  as  already  said,  it  is  clearly  revealed  that 
Jesus  is  coming  again.  Moreover,  His  coming 
is  to  be  personal  and  visible.  ' '  This  same  Jesus 
who  was  received  up  from  you  into  heaven, 
shall  so  come  in  like  manner  as  ye  beheld  Him 
going  into  heaven."  In  the  second  place,  as  has 
already  been  indicated,  at  His  return  the  pres- 
ent world  order  is  to  come  to  an  end.    This  ap- 


Jesus  as  the  Coming  One  2J$ 

pears  not  only  in  view  of  explicit  statements  to 
this  effect  such  as  Peter's  reference  to  Jesus 
as  One  "whom  the  heaven  must  receive  until 
the  times  of  restoration  of  all  things"  (Acts 
iii:21),  but  also  in  view  of  the  fact  that  the 
return  of  our  Lord  is  associated  with  the  gen- 
eral resurrection  and  general  judgment — 
events  that  are  always  connected  with  the  end 
of  the  world.  In  the  third  place,  it  has  been 
expressly  revealed  that  the  time  of  our  Lord's 
return  is  "among  the  secret  things  that  belong 
unto  the  Lord  our  God."  "For  of  that  day  or 
that  hour  knoweth  no  one,  not  even  the  angels 
in  heaven,  neither  the  Son  but  the  Father  only, ' ' 
said  Jesus  himself  preceding  His  resurrection, 
while  succeeding  that  event  He  said,  "It  is  not 
for  you  to  know  the  times  or  the  seasons  which 
the  Father  hath  put  within  His  own  authority. ' ' 
(Acts  i:7.)  It  is  altogether  certain,  therefore, 
that  those  who  presume  to  tell  us  when  Christ 
is  coming  are  speaking  without  knowledge. 

At  the  same  time  we  are  told  that  certain 
events,  such  as  the  preaching  of  the  Gospel 
among  all  nations  (Matt,  xxiv:  14),  the  conver- 
sion of  the  Jews  (Rom.  xi:  25-27),  the  over- 
throw of  ' '  every  rulership  and  every  authority 
and  power"  opposed  to  Christ  (I  Cor.  xv:  24), 
are  to  take  place  before  the  return  of  our  Lord. 


276  Jesus  as  He  Was  and  Is 

It  seems  clear,  therefore,  that  while  the  time  of 
our  Lord's  return  is  unknown,  yet  it  still 
lies  some  distance  in  the  future.  Just  how  far 
in  the  future  we  have  no  means  of  knowing. 
No  doubt,  if  events  move  as  slowly  in  the  future 
as  in  the  past,  the  coming  of  our  Lord  lies  far 
in  the  future.  In  view  of  the  fact,  however, 
that  events  move  so  much  more  swiftly  than 
formerly,  so  that  what  formerly  was  accom- 
plished in  centuries  is  now  accomplished  in  a 
few  years,  it  is  quite  possible  that  the  return 
of  Christ  lies  in  the  comparatively  near  future. 
Whether  it  comes  in  the  near  or  remote  future 
as  measured  in  the  scale  of  human  lives,  we 
may  be  certain  that  it  lies  in  the  near  future 
as  measured  in  the  scales  of  God  according  to 
whom  a  thousand  years  is  as  one  day.  In  view 
of  present  conditions,  however,  there  seems 
to  be  little  or  nothing  in  the  Scriptures  to  war- 
rant the  notion  that  Jesus  will  return  within  the 
lifetime  of  the  present  generation. 

In  this  connection  it  may  be  well  to  say  a  few 
words  about  the  post-millennial  view  of  our 
Lord's  return,  since  it  is  evident  that  our  ex- 
pectations as  to  the  time  of  our  Lord's  return 
are  determined,  in  large  measure,  by  the 
amount  of  truth  we  suppose  to  be  embodied  in 
this  view.     According  to  this  view  an  earthly 


Jesus  as  the  Coming  One  277 

Millennium  preceding  the  return  of  our  Lord 
is  to  be  brought  about  through  the  operation 
of  the  same  moral  and  spiritual  agencies  that 
are  now  at  work  in  the  world.  Now  so  far  as 
express  Scriptural  warrant  is  concerned,  no 
more  can  be  said  in  favor  of  a  Millennium  to 
be  brought  about  in  this  way  than  can  be  said 
in  favor  of  a  Millennium  to  be  brought  about 
through  the  personal  reign  of  Christ  and  His 
saints.  Neither  the  word  nor  the  idea  expressed 
by  the  word  occurs  in  the  New  Testament  ex- 
cept in  the  twentieth  chapter  of  the  Book  of 
Eevelation,  and  this  passage,  when  rightly  in- 
terpreted, as  I  have  pointed  out,  has  no  bearing 
on  the  notion  of  an  earthly  Millennium  either 
as  preceding  or  succeeding  the  return  of  our 
Lord.  As  Kleiforth  said,  "The  doctrine  of  a 
thousand-year  kingdom  has  no  foundation  in 
the  prophecies  of  the  New  Testament  and  is 
therefore  not  a  dog-ma  but  merely  a  hypothesis 
lacking  all  Biblical  ground."  (Christliche  Es- 
chatologie,  p.  188.) 

But  while  the  pre-millennial  view  is  opposed 
to  the  teaching  of  Scripture  as  well  as  lacking 
in  express  Scriptural  warrant,  the  post-millen- 
nial view,  while  lacking  in  express  Scriptural 
warrant,  is,  in  large  measure  at  least,  in  har- 
mony with  the  general  teaching  of  Scripture. 


278  Jesus  as  He  IV as  and  Is 

Certainly  on  the  basis  of  Scripture  we  are  war- 
ranted in  looking  forward  to  a  period  relatively 
golden  as  compared  with  that  which  we  now  en- 
joy. Christ  is  to-day  the  Head  of  a  Kingdom, 
of  a  kingdom  that  is  not  merely  engaged  in  con- 
flict with  evil  but  that  is  triumphing  over  evil. 
We  are  to-day  living  in  the  midst  of  a  period 
that  is  relatively  golden  as  compared  with  the 
period  in  the  midst  of  which  the  New  Testa- 
ment was  written.  Moreover,  Christ  is  to  go 
on  conquering  and  to  conquer  until  the  king- 
doms of  this  world  shall  have  become  the  king- 
dom of  our  Lord  and  His  Christ,  until  in  fact 
the  prayer  He  taught  His  disciples  to  pray 
shall  have  been  realized.  ' '  Thy  kingdom  come. 
Thy  will  be  done,  as  in  heaven,  so  on  earth." 

No  doubt  many  have  supposed  that  Paul's 
language  in  II  Thess.  ii:l-10  implies  that  the 
Man  of  Sin  will  be  exalting  himself  on  the 
earth  at  the  time  of  our  Lord's  return,  and 
hence  that  the  worst  manifestations  of  evil  are 
reserved  for  the  period  immediately  preceding 
the  second  coming.  A  more  careful  reading  of 
Paul's  language,  however,  would  have  con- 
vinced them  that  while  Paul  says  that  the  reve- 
lation of  the  Man  of  Sin  would  precede  the  com- 
ing of  the  Lord,  yet  that  he  does  not  say  that 
the  revelation  of  the  Man  of  Sin  is  necessarily 


Jesus  as  the  Coming  One  279 

to  be  looked  for  at  the  end  of  the  present  dis- 
pensation. In  particular  it  should  be  noted  that 
Paul's  reference  to  the  destruction  of  the  Man 
of  Sin  is  introduced  not  in  the  interest  of 
chronology  but  for  the  ethical  purpose  of  re- 
minding his  readers  of  the  fate  of  this  monster 
of  iniquity;  also  that  what  he  says  concerning 
the  destruction  of  the  Man  of  Sin  does  not  go 
beyond  what  he  had  said  just  before  (II  Thess. 
1: 7-9)  concerning  the  righteous  judgment  of 
God  as  manifested  in  the  punishment  of  the 
then  living  generation  in  as  far  as  it  knew  not 
God  and  obeyed  not  the  gospel  of  our  Lord 
Jesus.  When  we  further  note  that  in  his  de- 
scription of  the  Man  of  Sin  he  apparently  had 
a  contemporary  or  nearly  contemporary  phe- 
nomenon in  mind — in  verse  7  he  says,  "The 
mystery  of  lawlessness  doth  already  work" — it 
seems  clear  that  there  is  nothing  in  Paul's  lan- 
guage to  prevent  our  supposing  that  the  reve- 
lation of  the  Man  of  Sin  is  an  event  of  the 
past.  In  all  probability  we  are  to  identify  him 
with  the  Roman  emperors,  with  one  or  more 
of  that  line  of  human  monsters  who  did  not 
hesitate  to  set  themselves  forth  as  gods — most 
probably  with  Titus,  who  introduced  his  divine- 
self  and  his  idolatrous  insignia  into  the  temple 
of  God,  into  the  very  Holy  of  Holies.     But 


280  Jesus  as  He  Was  and  Is 

whether  we  identify  the  Man  of  Sin  with  one  or 
more  of  the  Roman  emperors — in  which  case  the 
apostasy  that  Paul  speaks  of  in  verse  3  must  be 
identified  with  the  apostasy  of  the  Jews — that 
Paul  had  such  an  apostasy  in  mind  is  evident 
from  I  Thess.  ii:14-16 — or  whether  we  suppose 
that  the  Man  of  Sin  is  yet  to  appear,  there  is 
certainly  nothing  in  Paul's  language  to  neces- 
sitate our  supposing  that  the  Man  of  Sin  will 
be  exalting  himself  on  the  earth  at  the  time 
of  our  Lord's  return. 

Again  it  has  been  hastily  assumed  by  many 
that  what  is  taught  concerning  the  evils  that 
would  exist  in  the  "latter  times"  or  "last 
days"  (Comp.  I  Tim.  iv:l;  II  Tim.  iii:l;  II 
Peter  iii:  3;  Jude  18)  means  that  the  days  im- 
mediately preceding  the  end  will  be  particularly 
bad.  This,  however,  is  to  overlook  the  fact  that 
these  phrases  as  used  in  the  New  Testament 
refer  to  the  whole  dispensation  of  the  Spirit, 
i.  e.,  to  the  whole  period  between  the  first  and 
second  advents.  (Comp.  Acts  ii:17.)  It  is  il- 
legitimate, therefore,  to  say  that  the  New  Testa- 
ment teaches  that  the  times  will  wax  worse  and 
worse.  Such  statements  do  not  necessarily 
refer  to  more  than  the  first  stages  of  "the  lat- 
ter times"  or  "last  days."  For  aught  that 
these  statements  imply,  the  closing  stages  of 


Jesus  as  the  Coming  One  281 

this  dispensation  may  be  days  in  which  evil  will 
be  completely  subjugated.  It  is  only  because 
men  have  overlooked  the  technical  sense  in 
which  these  phrases  are  used  in  the  New  Testa- 
ment that  they  have  supposed  that  there  is 
any  contradiction  between  the  passages  in 
which  they  are  found  and  such  a  passage  as  I 
Cor.  xv  :20-28,  where  the  period  in  which  we  are 
living  is  spoken  of  as  a  period  of  advancing  con- 
quest on  the  part  of  Christ. 

While  then  we  ought  not  to  call  ourselves 
Post-millennialists,  seeing  that  the  idea  of  a 
Millennium  in  the  sense  of  a  thousand-year 
reign  of  unbroken  peace  and  prosperity  is  for- 
eign to  the  New  Testament,  yet  this  view  is  in 
essential  harmony  with  what  has  been  revealed 
concerning  the  future  in  as  far  as  it  teaches 
that  Christ  is  to  bring  about  at  least  a  rela- 
tively golden  period  on  earth  through  those 
same  moral  and  spiritual  agencies  through 
which  He  now  works — though  nothing  is  said 
concerning  the  duration  of  this  period.  There 
are  some  considerations,  such  as  the  fact  that 
Jesus  ever  points  His  disciples  to  a  life  of  strife 
and  oppression  and  persecution  and  promises 
them  on  earth  not  a  crown  but  a  cross,  that  seem 
to  imply  that  evil  will  dog  the  footsteps  of  men 
until  the  end  of  time.    None  the  less,  in  view  of 


282  Jesus  as  He  Was  and  Is 

the  fact  that  there  are  passages  that  seem  to 
imply  that  the  kingdoms  of  this  world  are  to 
become  in  reality  the  kingdom  of  our  Lord  and 
His  Christ  preceding  the  final  consummation,  it 
is  probable  that  Jesus  had  only  the  early  and 
middle  stages  and  not  the  whole  of  the  inter- 
adventual  period  in  mind  when  He  spoke  such 
words.  We  may  not  be  able  to  say  on  the  basis 
of  Scripture  than  an  absolutely  golden  period 
lies  before  this  world,  preceding  the  final  con- 
summation of  all  things,  but  we  can  say  that  a 
relatively  golden  period  lies  before  it — a  period 
in  which  the  will  of  Christ  will  be  manifestly  in 
the  ascendant  and  that  will  at  least  approxi- 
mate to  an  absolutely  golden  period.  It  is  evi- 
dent, therefore,  that  unless  events  move  much 
more  rapidly  in  the  future  than  in  the  past,  the 
return  of  our  Lord  measured  in  the  scale  of 
human  lives  lies  in  the  comparatively  remote 
future. 

It  is  true  that  the  expectations  of  the  early 
Christians  centered  in  the  return  of  their  Lord. 
It  is  true,  even,  that  many  of  the  early  Chris- 
tians expected  to  live  to  witness  the  return 
of  Jesus.  It  is  true,  also,  that  one  of  the  chief 
incentives  to  faithfulness  and  watchfulness  and 
holy  living  advanced  in  the  New  Testament  is 
the  thought  of  our  Lord's  return.    In  view  of 


Jesus  as  the  Coming  One  283 

this  it  is  maintained  by  some  that  we  must  sup- 
pose the  return  of  our  Lord  to  be  imminent, 
close  at  hand,  since  otherwise  neither  this  atti- 
tude of  expectancy  nor  these  exhortations  to 
fidelity  and  holy  living  would  be  warranted. 

It  should  be  noted,  however,  that  in  as  far 
as  these  considerations  may  be  urged  against 
what  has  been  said  of  the  time  of  Christ's  re- 
turn, theymaybeurged  with  equal  force  against 
the  view  that  holds  that  He  may  return  at  any 
moment.  To  perceive  how  true  this  is  we  need 
only  remember  that  the  New  Testament  was 
written  at  least  eighteen  hundred  years  ago. 
If  such  language  was  warranted  then,  notwith- 
standing the  fact  that  the  Lord's  return  was 
at  least  eighteen  hundred  years  in  the  future, 
surely  it  cannot  be  maintained  that  such  lan- 
guage is  unwarranted  now,  even  though  it  be 
supposed  that  this  event  still  lies  some  distance 
in  the  future.  In  other  words,  if  such  language 
does  not  prove — in  view  of  the  fact  that  eigh- 
teen hundred  years  have  passed  away  without 
Jesus  having  returned — that  the  teaching  of 
the  New  Testament  has  been  falsified  by  events, 
then  it  is  as  difficult,  even  more  difficult  I  would 
say,  to  reconcile  it  with  the  pre-millennial  view 
of  Christ's  return  than  with  the  view  I  am  ad- 
vocating. 


284  Jesus  as  He  Was  and  Is 

To  say  that  these  considerations  weigh  even 
more  heavily  against  the  pre-millennial  view  of 
Christ's  return  than  against  the  one  I  am  pre- 
senting is,  of  course,  not  to  grapple  with  the 
difficulty  that  many  find  in  these  expectations 
and  exhortations  of  the  New  Testament.  No 
doubt  there  is  a  difficulty  here,  and  yet  when 
we  keep  all  the  facts  of  the  case  in  mind,  I  am 
sure  we  will  perceive  not  only  that  they  are 
reconcilable  with  the  notion  that  the  New  Testa- 
ment is  trustworthy  in  its  teaching  concerning 
this  event  but  that  it  is  perfectly  legitimate  for 
us  to  exhort  one  another  to  faithfulness  and 
watchfulness  and  holy  living  in  view  of  the 
coming  again  of  Jesus  Christ,  even  though  we 
may  not  expect  to  live  until  it  takes  place. 

In  considering  this  difficulty,  I  want  you  to 
note  that  while  the  writers  of  the  New  Testa- 
ment may  have  cherished  the  hope  that  Jesus 
would  return  within  their  own  generation,  yet 
they  never  teach  that  He  would  do  so.  Appar- 
ently they  thought  at  times  that  all  the  events 
that  were  to  intervene  between  the  first  and 
second  advents  might  take  place  within  the 
period  of  their  own  generation,  but  they  never 
went  so  far  as  to  say  that  such  would  be  the 
case.  They  ever  wrote  as  those  who  remem- 
bered the  words  of  their  Lord:   "It  is  not  for 


Jesus  as  the  Coming  One  285 

you  to  know  the  times  or  the  seasons  which  the 
Father  hath  set  within  His  own  authority." 

I  want  you  to  note  also,  and  this  is  important, 
that  many  comings  of  Christ  are  mentioned  in 
the  New  Testament.  For  instance,  the  destruc- 
tion of  Jerusalem,  the  descent  of  the  Holy 
Spirit,  the  removing  of  the  disciples  from  earth 
to  heaven  at  death,  these  and  other  events  are 
spoken  of  as  comings  of  Christ.  These  com- 
ings are  looked  upon  as  but  precursors,  as  fore- 
runners of  the  return  of  Christ  at  the  end  of 
time,  and  yet  we  should  keep  clearly  before  us 
the  fact  that  no  sharp  distinction  is  drawn  in 
the  New  Testament  between  these  partial,  pre- 
liminary comings  and  the  final  coming  of  our 
Lord.  Possibly  if  we  fix  our  attention  exclu- 
sively upon  the  final  return  of  our  Lord  it  may 
prove  difficult  for  us  to  find  in  the  thought  of 
the  Lord's  return  a  constant,  every-day  motive 
to  obedience,  unless  we  suppose  that  He  may 
return  at  any  moment.  If,  however,  we  keep 
in  mind  these  partial,  preliminary  comings — 
comings  that  take  place  in  every  generation — 
we  will  perceive  that  while  the  goal  of  our 
hopes  is  the  final  coming,  yet  that  Jesus  is  al- 
ways coming  and  hence  that  it  is  ever  proper 
for  us  to  exhort  one  another  in  such  words  as 
these:  "Be  ye  also  ready,  for  in  such  an  hour 


286  Jesus  as  He  TV  as  and  Is 

as  ye  think  not  the  Son  of  man  cometh,"  and 
that  irrespective  of  whether  we  think  that  the 
final  coming  of  our  Lord  is  in  the  near  or  the 
remote  future. 

But  while  we  must  keep  these  partial,  prelim- 
inary comings  in  mind  if  we  are  adequately  to 
appreciate  the  thought  of  the  Lord's  return  as 
a  constant  incentive  to  duty;  yet  most  of  the 
expectations  and  exhortations  of  the  New  Tes- 
tament find  ample  justification,  on  the  one  hand, 
in  the  fact  that  the  early  Christians  were  ab- 
solutely certain  that  Jesus  would  return  and, 
on  the  other  hand,  in  the  fact  that  they  believed 
that  this  event  would  be  the  culminating  point 
in  the  destiny  of  every  man.  It  is  the  thought 
of  the  Lord's  return  as  absolutely  certain 
rather  than  the  thought  of  it  as  imminent  that 
dominates  the  New  Testament.  Moreover,  if  we 
are  to  appreciate  the  emphasis  that  the  New 
Testament  places  on  this  "Blessed  Hope"  we 
must  remember  that  it  is  the  hope  not  only  of 
the  saints  on  earth  but  also  of  all  those  who 
in  the  ages  past  have  entered  into  their  rest. 
It  is  the  hope,  therefore,  of  Abraham  and  Isaiah 
and  Paul  no  less  than  of  those  of  us  who  still 
labor  on  the  earth.  Hence,  assuming  that  we 
die  before  the  final  return  of  our  Lord,  we  will 
continue  to  long  for  it  until  it  actually  takes 


Jesus  as  the  Coming  One  287 

place.  That  is  to  say,  all  the  saints,  whether 
they  are  in  heaven  or  on  earth,  are  looking  for 
that  blessed  hope  and  the  glorious  appearing 
of  our  great  God  and  Saviour  Jesus  Christ. 
And  the  reason  for  this  is  to  be  found  in  the 
fact  that  the  saints  do  not  attain  their  full 
blessedness  until  the  second  Advent.  Unques- 
tionably the  blessed  dead  are  in  a  state  of  bliss 
as  compared  with  what  they  experienced  on 
earth:  none  the  less  "better  things"  are  in 
store  for  them,  and  these  better  things  will  not 
be  theirs  until  at  His  coming  Jesus  will  give 
them  their  resurrection  bodies  and  say  unto 
them,  ' '  Come  ye  blessed  of  my  Father,  inherit 
the  kingdom  prepared  for  you  from  the  founda- 
tion of  the  world." 

I  have  pointed  out,  as  best  I  could  in  the 
time  at  my  disposal,  what  has  been  revealed 
concerning  the  return  of  our  Lord.  No  doubt 
much  has  been  left  unrevealed.  This,  however, 
was  only  what  was  to  have  been  expected  in 
view  of  the  ethical  purpose  of  all  prophecy. 
The  purpose  of  prophecy  is,  indeed,  to  im- 
part information;  and  yet  the  imparting  of 
information  is  always  subordinate  to  moral 
impression.  Prophecy  is,  therefore,  to  be 
sharply  distinguished  from  history  and  should 
never   be   defined   as   history   written   before- 


288  Jesus  as  He  Was  and  Is 

hand.  For  whereas  in  history  we  have  a  right 
to  expect  details,  in  prophecy  we  have  a  right 
only  to  expect  large  outlooks,  and  these  only 
in  as  far  as  they  minister  to  right  living. 
If  we  keep  a  firm  grasp  on  this  fact  we  will  not 
be  surprised  that  so  little  of  detail  has  been 
revealed  concerning  the  return  of  our  Lord; 
and  we  will  realize  at  the  same  time  that  if  our 
study  of  this  subject  is  to  be  profitable,  we  must 
ever  approach  it  not  as  those  who  desire  to 
satisfy  their  intellectual  curiosity,  but  as  those 
who  desire  to  know  their  duty,  the  sort  of  lives 
they  ought  to  live,  in  view  of  the  fact  that  at 
some  unknown  time  in  the  future  Jesus  Christ 
is  to  return  to  raise  the  dead,  to  sit  in  judg- 
ment, and  solemnly  to  conclude  the  history  of 
the  world. 


